Abronye descends heavily on John Mahama over cocoa comments

The ruling New Patriotic Party Bono Regional Chairman, Kwame Baffoe popularly known as Abronye DC has descended heavily on the former President John Mahama for scoring cheap political points with his recent comments about the cocoa sector.

Mr John Dramani Mahama the flagbearer of NDC described as sheer wickedness President Akufo-Addo’s deliberate halt of the free supply of fertilizers to cocoa farmers allowing the fertilisers to expire and rot.

Mr. Mahama made these comments when he met some cocoa farmers at Enchi in the Aowin Constituency of the Western North Region on Tuesday, July 16, 2019 as part of his two-day 'Thank You' Tour.

“I feel very sad for our cocoa farmers”, President Mahama said, adding “we had good plans and started implementing good policies for the cocoa sector.”

He continued, “When we started giving out free fertilisers, it was because we realised it will help improve yield, and in the 2016/17 crop year, we recorded 950,000 tons… I cannot understand why this government will decide to stop that and sell the fertilisers to the farmers… In fact, it is wickedness to leave the fertiliser in warehouses because the farmers cannot and won’t buy them, and throw them away after they expire.”

But in a statement issued and signed by Abronye DC, he indicated that "Now, I hold a vehement view that, as at now, Mr. Mahama has still not learnt his lessons and still has no respect for Ghanaians. Mahama has taken Ghanaians for granted and still thinks Ghanaians have short memories".

He opined that "In case John Mahama has forgotten, during the period of 2012 to 2016, we had a president of this country and a certain CEO at Cocobod who created, looted and shared from the sweat of the ordinary cocoa farmer. Certainly, I am sure John Mahama did not feel sad during those days when his CEO was milking COCOBOD, soon feeding his wife and bringing him his percentage".

According to Abronye DC, under John Mahama-led government cocoa farmers suffered many atrocities and inhuman cocoa initiatives.

He emphasized that "Under the NDC John Mahama led administration, the sweat of the cocoa farmer who was not able to pay his wards school fees was used to build a guest house for him(Mahama) at his hometown an overwhelming inflated cost of Ghc 7.7 million".

He continued, "Under a certain John Mahama's tenure as president, the poor and hardworking cocoa farmer's sweat (money from COCOBOD ) worth about $25million was used to pay construction pioneers as judgment debt whilst the cocoa farmers were struggling to get fertilizers".

Abronye DC claimed "Under the John Mahama led NDC administration, between 2015/ 2016, $1.8 billion cocoa syndicated loan was supposed to be used to purchase a million tonnes of cocoa however, only 587,125 metric tonnes of cocoa were purchased and the rest of the monies got lost. I am sure dwarfs from the NDC party Headquarters came for those monies".

He, therefore, commended President Akufo-Addo for chalking success under cocoa sector than former President John Mahama.

"Re negotiation of dubious contracts awarded by John Mahama between october 2016 to 6th January, 2019 saving the ordinary Ghanaian cocoa farmer over Ghs 50 million", he opined.

He stressed that "Introduction of rehabilitation of cocoa farms which was abandoned by John Mahama and the NDC".

He applauded President Akufo-Addo that "100,000 personnel have been trained on the use of organic cocoa fertilizer. This has created enormous employment opportunities for the youth in this country".

"It is undoubtedly that the cocoa fraternity under Joseph Boahen Adu is doing better now than it was doing previously. Cocoa farmers now have value for their sweat", he said.

He concluded that "Ghanaians do not have short memories. We will continue to remind John Mahama of his mess every time we see he has forgotten".

Below is the full statement

Kwame Baffoe Abronye Writes

RE: I FEEL SAD AND SORRY FOR COCOA FARMERS SAYS JOHN MAHAMA.

The flagbearer of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr John Dramani Mahama has described as sheer wickedness President Nana Akufo-Addo’s decision to restructure the Cocoa Industry.

John Mahama on his come back tour to dupe the nation again was speaking during an interaction with cocoa farmers and the people of Enchi in the Aowin Constituency of the Western North Region on Tuesday. He noted among other things that, "I feel very sad for our cocoa farmers”, President Mahama said, adding “we had good plans and started implementing good policies for the cocoa sector”.

Now, I hold a vehement view that, as at now, Mr. Mahama has still not learnt his lessons and still has no respect for Ghanaians. Mahama has taken Ghanaians for granted and still thinks Ghanaians have short memories.

I am surprised about Mahama's sudden U-Turn and now purporting to care for cocoa farmers.

In case John Mahama has forgotten, during the period of 2012 to 2016, we had a president of this country and a certain CEO at Cocobod who created, looted and shared from the sweat of the ordinary cocoa farmer. Certainly, I am sure John Mahama did not feel sad during those days when his CEO was milking cocobod, soon feeding his wife and bringing him his percentage.

During the John Mahama NDC administration this were some of their noted achievements at Cocobod;

1. Under John Mahama, cocoa farmers suffered many atrocities and inhuman cocoa policies. Under the NDC John Mahama led administration, the sweat of the cocoa farmer who was not able to pay his wards school fees was used to build a guest house for him(Mahama) at his hometown an overwhelming inflated cost of GhS 7.7 million

2. Under a certain John Mahama's tenure as president, the poor and hardworking cocoa farmer's sweat (money from cocoabod ) worth about $25million was used to pay construction pioneers as judgment debt whilst the cocoa farmers were struggling to get fertilizers

3. Under the John Mahama led NDC administration, between 2015/ 2016, $1.8 billion cocoa syndicated loan was supposed to be used to purchase a million tonnes of cocoa however, only 587,125 metric tonnes of cocoa were purchased and the rest of the monies got lost. I am sure dwarfs from the NDC party Head quarters came for those monies.

4. Under John Mahama, cocobod was saddled with a whopping debt of Ghs 19.6 billion as a result of avoidable expenditures and loses.

5. Under the treacherous John Mahama administration, many of the cocoa road contracts awarded were found to be non existent and other unprecedentedly inflated. Examples of such inflated cocoa roads projects includes;

i. Bitumen surfacing of Asankare Kwabeng feeder road which is a 17 km road was awarded at a cost of Ghs 19,889,530.00 million

ii. Rehabilitation of Sunyani Secondary school roads and Asana new roads. A 8.94km road was awarded for Ghs 19 million.

iii. Pokukrom Ahwerewam road was also awarded for Ghs 19 million. This is a clear indication of a create, loot and share government. However, under the leadership of Prez Akuffo Addo and supervision of the competent Joesph Boahen Adu as CEO of cocobod, all these dubious contracts have been repudiated.

6. Under the John Mahama administration, 4 wheel drive vehicles were purchased by COCOBOD for contractors as part of the contract price. For instance, An 18km road was allocated 6 four wheel drive vehicles. However, steps has been taken by the current able Nana Addo administration to recover all such state vehicles from such contractors.

7. Under the John Mahama administration, trading at the CMC which was directly supervised by a certain former CEO supervised the loss of Ghs 50,000.00 dollars in the 2015/2016 crop season.

8. John Mahama as president also succeeded in cancelling the cocoa mass spraying exercise and rather introduced the distribution of substandard and inferior insecticides.

9. John Mahama succeeded in terminating the rehabilitation program introduced by NPP part 1.

10. Under the treacherous John Mahama administration, a whopping $24 million wealth contract was awarded JUST to demolish an excellent cocoa staff housing quaters. I do not know if this building is equivalent to the walls of hell.

10. Under John Mahama, we had a first lady who used Cocobod as a feeding center.

i. Re launching of the cocoa spraying program.

ii. Re negotiation of dubious contracts awarded by John Mahama between october 2016 to 6th January 2019 saving the ordinary Ghanaian cocoa farmer over Ghs 50 million

iii. Introduction of rehabilitation of cocoa farms which was abandoned by John Mahama and the NDC.

iv. 100,000 personnel have been trained on the use of organic cocoa fertilizer. This has created enormous employment opportunities for the youth in this country.

V. 22,000 cocoa pollinators have also been employed under the current administration.

Vi. The government has also secured $223 million for work on estimated 156 hectres over-aged cocoa farms

vii. The cocoa rehabilitation program has employed over 18,600 workers. The rehabilitation under the NPP has created 440 disease spotters, 251 technical assistant, and 246 machine operators. All these workers receive Ghs 1,300 as remuneration under this project.

viii. Under Nana Addo pruning is undertaken at various cocoa farms each month. This will be done for a period of two years of which is been funded by the Cocobod.

ix. NDC'S so called free fertilizer between the period of 2015/16 yielded 740, 000 cocoa metric tonnes.

However, under the subsidized fertilizer policy initiated by President Nana Addo, we have been able to cultivate 950,000 metric tonnes of cocoa now. This is because the free fertilizer under NDC was highly substandard and inferior.

It is undoubtedly that the cocoa fraternity under Joseph Boahen Adu is doing better now than it was doing previously. Cocoa farmers now have value for their sweat.

Ghana is not ready to entertain a treacherous president again.

Ghanaians do not have short memories. We will continue to remind John Mahama of his mess every time we see he has forgotten.

Thanks!