Wa, Feb. 15, GNA - Valentine Day celebrants who went to shops in the Wa Municipality to buy chocolates to present as gifts to their loved ones were disappointed as the product was not available in the shops. Shopkeepers told the Ghana News Agency that chocolate was not a commonly patronized candy in the area and they did not anticipate it would be in high demand on Valentine Day.
Mr Suglo Abudulai, a shopkeeper near the Wa Regional Hospital, said he got to know that the day had been declared National Chocolate Day when young people started trouping to his shop to buy the product on Wednesday.
He said chocolate was patronized mostly by children in day nurseries and day care centres and there was therefore little or no motivation to buy them in large quantities for sale. "There was also no publicity for the "National Chocolate Day" that is why we do not have the product on our shelves. We make sure we always have in stock cocoa products like Richoco, Chocolim, Chocomug and Brown Gold that are all in high demand in this town", he said. Mr Mahamudu Darimani, a shop owner, said only children ate chocolate and if the government wanted to promote its patronage among adults then it had to embark on a massive nationwide awareness creation programme on its health benefits.
Most ordinary people interviewed by the GNA were not aware that Valentine Day had been declared a "National Chocolate Day" and some of them said chocolate was manufactured for children.
On the Valentine Day itself red outfits, which were worn by almost every young person to mark the day in the town last year, were missing as most people went about their daily activities as usual without any fun.
