The NDC Member of Parliament (MP) for Wenchi West, Honourable Asiedu Nketia, last Monday came under severe criticism from a cross section of people in the Ashanti regional capital, Kumasi, and some of its suburbs over his alleged incitement of cocoa farmers against the goverment of the New Patriotic Party (NPP).
Honourable Paul Manu, a leading executive member of the NPP accused Hon. Asiedu Nketia as a treacherous person who is not only misinforming the people but also uses lies to further his political interests.
According to Hon Paul Manu, it is the greatest height of hypocricy for Asiedu Nketia to criticize the NPP government of insensitivity to the plight of cocoa farmers when, at the time he was deputy Minister of Agriculture, all that his government did was to pay huge bonuses to cocoa farmers during election period only to burn their crops later because there was no money to pay them their bonuses.
Speaking on a Kapital Radio programme in Kumasi last Tuesday , Hon Paul Manu said the present goverment has introduced an innovative scheme for the farmers by using a percentage of their bonuses to spray their farms and offer other allied services. This, he asserted, is a departure from the past when farmers were paid their bonuses only for them to spend all their money on inputs to spray their farms.
It would be recalled that Honourable Asiedu Nketia was reported on Skyy Radio in Sunyani as saying that the Kufuor administration is deceiving the nation's cocoa farmers by telling them that government is going to offer free massive cocoa spraying exercises for them.
He also told his listeners that the Kufuor administration is scoring cheap political propaganda since the nation's economy is in a mess and therefore cannot support such a scheme.
Asiedu Nketsia's claim incensed some executive members of the NPP in the Brong Ahafo Region who reportedly massed to the FM station and allegedly mandhandled him.
Reacting to the accusations levelled against the government by Hon. Nketia, Opanyin Ofori Ntiamoah, 63. a farmer resident at Suame, a suburb of Kumasi, described Hon. Nketia as an ugly noise maker whose ravings and rantings must be ignored by decent minds in the society.
His views were re-echoed by Nana Karikari Gyan, 51, a transport owner resident at Magazine who told the Chronicle in an interview that, after listening to the NDC Member of Parliament on Kapital Radio, he was convinced that the man is not only confused but also did not know what he was talking about.
"No wonder their 20-year reign has brought nothing but misery to the people of Ghana." But Mr Aboagye Nkansah, a resident of Aboaboso, is of a differernt view.
According to Mensah, who claims to be a staunch CPP member, the former Deputy Minister of Agriculture, has a constitutional responsibility to tell the people the truth if they are being misled by the very government they voted into power.
Aboagye said it is unpardonable for the NPP members to manhandle the MP as is being alleged and described the incident as uncalled for.
In a follow up interview on the same Capital Radio, Hon. Asiedu Nketsia said when he went to Brong Ahafo, NPP activists were parading the town saying that when President Kufuor visited the region, he told the people his government was going to spray their cocoa farms free of charge.
He, however, told them that that cannot be true since the money the government is going to use to do the spraying belongs to the farmers themselves.
Hon. Nketsia stated that government owes the farmers outstanding bonuses and cannot, therefore, claim it is offering any free services to the farmers.
" This is not true, and it can never be true."
