Director of Communications of the United Party (UP), Solomon Owusu, has admonished the government to replicate the deregulation of the petroleum industry at the cocoa sector to avoid the recurrence of the challenges currently facing the industry.
The cocoa sector, in recent months, has undergone severe hardship where government is finding it difficult to pay farmers and other actors along the value chain.
This has forced the government to reduce the farm gate price of the beans, with a new bill yet to be laid in Parliament to cater for such future occurrences.
Speaking on TV3’s BigIssue segment of the NewDay morning show on Wednesday, February 18, 2026, Solomon Owusu argued that it does not make sense for government to pay cocoa farmers a price that is lower than what is being offered on the international market.
“When we did deregulation in the petroleum sector, it should have followed in the cocoa sector. Because these are all international products,” he stated.
Deregulation of Ghana’s petroleum sector, fully implemented in June 2015, is the policy where the government shifted from fixing fuel prices to allowing Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) and Bulk Distribution Companies (BDCs) to set their own ex-pump and ex-refinery prices based on market forces. It ended government subsidies and direct price control by the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) to increase efficiency and competition.
According to Owusu, “you can’t give what you don’t have. If the commodity is being sold on the international market at 3,000, why would you give 4,000? So the solution I’ve heard from our brother is that they must borrow to restore prices. Is that how you manage? That’s how come you have that negative equity there.”
He held that the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) position of urging the government to borrow to cushion the farmers is not prudent, explaining that such funds could be channeled into other developmental projects which the farmer needs.
“The farmer needs roads, hospitals, schools, these monies we’ll borrow to shore them up will deny them the very infrastructure they are looking for,” he stated, adding that the government’s proposed position is the best way to tackle the situation.
“…so you put in place a pricing mechanism which is also one of the suggestions they have proposed which I believe they must carry it through. It’s a very good thing.”
