Apologize for saying that Ghana no longer imports tomato - Dr Apaak to President Akufo-Addo

The Member of Parliament for Builsa South Dr. Clement Abas Apaak is demanding an apology from President Nana Akufo-Addo over his claims that Ghana was no longer importing tomatoes.

According to him, the President lied do Ghanaians and must apologize.

His reason is that the Inspector General of Police recently assured tomato traders and transporters of police and military escort to protect them against highway robbery on the Kumasi-Bolgatanga-Burkina Faso highway.

The legislator is wondering why tomato traders would be going to Burkina-Faso to import tomatoes when the President had told Ghanaians that we no longer import the commodity.

In his last State of the Nation Address for his first term, the President indicated that Ghana saw a drastic turnaround of the agric sector due to his planting for food and jobs policy.

The policy he had argued impacted the lives of Ghanaian farmers and the country became an exporter of basic food commodities.

“We have seen the dramatic turnaround of our agricultural fortunes, due to the progressive policies that have improved the living standards of farmers in the country. The excellently executed policy for Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ) has laid the foundation for the agricultural transformation of our country. We are able to say that our country is now a net exporter of food, and we no longer have to import basic foods like plantain and tomatoes.” he said during the SONA.

However, Dr. Clement Apaak says the President lied and should therefore apologize.

He said the recent strike action by the traders has shown that Ghana was still an importer of tomato.

He described this as a contradiction to what the President told Ghanaians and as such, he must apologize to us.

The IGP has promised to provide police protection for tomato traders on the Kumasi-Bolgatanga-Burkina Faso highway.

This was in response to a petition by the group following persistent attacks on the Kumasi-Bolgatanga-Burkina Faso route, leading to the death of some members.

The four-day-old strike has resulted in a shortage of tomatoes on the market affecting the prices of the few ones available.

Reacting to this, the MP said: “Tomato traders are currently on strike due to robberies on Kumasi-Bolga-Burkina Faso road. IGP pledges to order police protection for them, if needed police-military. Evenso, the traders are yet to accept the offer.

Doesn’t this contradict what President Akufo-Addo told us; Ghana no longer imports tomatoes, or Burkina is now part of Ghana?”

Dr. Apaak in January this year slammed the President after delivering his SONA.

He described him as a liar and accused him of failing to consult broadly on the issue before making the pronouncement.

“Folks, Did the outgoing President SELECT say PFJ was soo successful that we no longer import food items such as tomatoes! Really? As usual Mr. Akufo-Addo is either being misled or is being deceitful.

If Akufo-Addo’s outgoing Regional Minister of the Upper East Region and or his MCE for Chana-Paga or even the Customer Officer In-charge of the Ghana-Burkina Faso border had been consulted, they would have told him that daily, not less than 50 trucks crossover to Burkina to bring tomatoes to Ghana for sale.

Oooh while at it, is Mr Akufo-Addo aware of the shortage of onions in Ghana? Well, I’m sure Dr. Bawumia has not gone to MalaMata market in a long time.”