Make us managers of our pension scheme - Cocoa farmers to Akufo-Addo

The President of Concerned Cocoa Farmers Association, Nana Opambour Boateng has charged President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to ensure that cocoa farmers are made their own managers of the much talked about Cocoa Pension Scheme slated to begin on October 2020.

According to Nana Opambour Boateng, the farmers in the cocoa industry can boast of competent and intellectual individuals who have vast experience in the management of pension schemes, adding that no group of professionals could proffer solutions more than themselves.

He, however, berated the Ghana Cocoa Board and the Nana Addo led government of their failure to consult them during the compilation of the Cocoa Pension Scheme supposedly meant for them and added that they are still not aware of the content of the whole pension scheme.

Nana Opambpour Boateng who made the call during an exclusive interview with Captain Koda on OtecFM’s Nyansapo morning show on Thursday, September 17, 2020, commended the President for the imitative insisting that the scheme would eventually serve the interest of the cocoa farmers.

The Chief Executive Officer of Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), Joseph Boahene Aidoo last Tuesday, September 15, 2020, announced that all is set for the implementation of the Cocoa Farmers Pension Scheme for all cocoa farmers across the country in October this year.

He said the National Pension Regulatory Authority (NPRA) would be the managers of the scheme, adding that the scheme would not only care for cocoa farmers when they retire but would guarantee the sustainability of Cocoa production in the country as the youth would be attracted to cocoa farming.

But Nana Opambour whimpered, "We want the government to allow we the farmers to manage the scheme. The leaders of Ghana Football Association and the G.P.R.T.U. do manage their affairs so I am expecting the President to give us the powers to manage the scheme. Maybe the government would come in when face any possible challenges in the course of the management.”