NPP’s Aniakwo and NDC’s Achana clash over revised cocoa price
Aniakwo criticised the Ghana Cocoa Board’s (COCOBOD) announcement of a new producer price for cocoa, which has been revised from GH¢3,100 to GH¢3,228.75 per 64-kilogram bag.
Hillary Aniakwo, a member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the Chiana-Paga Constituency, has accused the Mahama-led National Democratic Congress (NDC) government of deceiving cocoa farmers with its recent adjustment of the cocoa farmgate price.
Speaking on the Big Mike Breakfast Show on Monday August 11, Aniakwo criticised the Ghana Cocoa Board’s (COCOBOD) announcement of a new producer price for cocoa, which has been revised from GH¢3,100 to GH¢3,228.75 per 64-kilogram bag.
Aniakwo claimed the increase fell far short of the expectations created during the NDC’s 2024 election campaign, alleging that the party had promised to raise the price to GH¢6,000 per bag if elected.
“For me, it’s a deceit to the cocoa farmers in the sense that when you campaign for power, that if I come, I will make sure that I increase cocoa prices to this particular amount, but after winning, you only increased it by 128 Ghana cedi,”
“They were saying that when they come, they will increase it to 6,000. It’s on record, Ato Forson said that.” Aniakwo family
He insisted that the current adjustment was not only inadequate but also a betrayal of cocoa farmers’ trust, who were trusting the NDC’s pledge for a significant boost in earnings.
However, Maurice Achana, a member of the NDC’s communications team in the Navrongo Central Constituency, swiftly rejected Aniakwo’s assertions, denying that the NDC had ever made such a promise in its campaign manifesto, stressing that no official policy document from the party contained a pledge to increase the cocoa price to GH¢6,000 per bag.
“In our manifesto, we never told anybody in the manifesto that when we voted into power, a bag of cocoa would be sold at six thousand, what we campaigned for was that when we were voted into power or if we were voted into power we would increase the FOB, that is the free on-board pricing that normally they use to get the average pricing for the season.” Achana argued.
Mike 105.3FM | Navrongo | Alexander Bombande
