Stephen Anane Boateng, President of the Ghana National Cocoa Farmers Association, has slammed the Chief Executive of the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), Joseph Boahen Aidoo, over a recent comment he made on cocoa purchasing.
He says it would be a figment in the CEO’s imagination to think that cocoa farmers will accept that government has decided not to take foreign loans again to purchase the bean.
According to him, farmers are aware of the losses they have been making over the years and their inability to defray their debts, leading to the denial of their requests for loans for this cocoa season.
Speaking on Onua FM’s ‘Atifi Nsem‘ with JB on Saturday, August 31, 2024, the President of the Cocoa Farmers Association intimated that no politician can fool them again since they are not oblivious of the realities on the grounds.
He also disclosed that the supposed inputs government claims it will provide to farmers are funded from the sale of their beans to the government, the reason they are mandated to sell all their cocoa to the government and no one else.
Mr. Boateng claims none of the manifestoes presented by the two main political parties has the interest of cocoa farmers since whatever the parties claim to be doing for the farmers are reserves of the sales they make to the government.
“So if someone says they will give us inputs and others, it is not from their pockets. Those are monies reserved from the work we do.
“COCOBOD has been running at a loss since it started working. Let me give you an example, did you not recently hear Boahen Aidoo telling us that he won’t go for syndicated loan anymore? How long has he been a Chief Executive? He has served for almost 8 years and he will be stepping down in just about four months time because even if Bawumia wins, he will not reappoint him as CEO.
“So, you wait till three months to the end of your tenure to come and brag to us farmers that you won’t take syndicated loan again. We the farmers have ditched the wooden spectacles we used to wear. We now have ears and eyes and we can read and understand English. We know what is happening on the international market.
“After taking loans every year and failing to repay and running at a loss over the years, they refused to grant you loans again and you are here to deceive us that you’re going to fund the purchasing yourselves,” he expressed.
Mr. Boateng’s comments follow a pronouncement by the Chief Executive of COCOBOD, Mr. Boahen Aidoo, that Ghana after 32 years of relying on syndicated loan to purchase the bean from farmers will now deploy means of funding the purchases itself.
The statement was made after his appearances before Parliament’s ad hoc Public Accounts Committee (PAC) to explain what accounted for the Board’s extra expenditure that was made during the year in review.
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