President Akufo-Addo urges citizens to help flush out fertilizer smugglers

President Nana Akufo-Addo has called on the public to help the security services to flush out “greedy criminal” fertilizer smugglers to ensure farmers enjoyed the full benefit of the subsidized fertilizer programme.

“Traditional rulers and indeed all citizens should be on high alert to ensure that smuggling of inputs across our borders is stopped”, he said.

President Akufo Addo made the call while addressing a durbar of chiefs and people of Wechiau in the Wa West District of the Upper West Region as part of his two-day working visit to the region.

He said the government was subsidizing fertilizer by 50 percent and that money was the taxpayer’s money which should not be allowed to go waste through smuggling.

“We know if farmers get the subsidized fertilizer, they will improve agriculture productivity and we should not sit down and allow a few criminals to come and take our fertilizer and go and sell in Burkina Faso for their own greedy pockets”, he said.

“All of us are required to police the fertilizer and make sure that the money that is coming from the sweat of Ghanaians are used to the benefit of all Ghanaians”, he said.

On development, President Akufo Addo said he was happy that the work of his government was being well appreciated and called on the people to continue to support his government so that they would continue to enjoy the benefits of the numerous pro-poor development interventions.

Mr Owusu Afriyie Akoto, the Minister for Food and Agriculture, said government is establishing 33 farmer mechanization centres across the country to enable farmers have easy access to mechanisation services.

He said Wa West was selected to benefit from this initiative due to its ability to raise nearly a million cashew seedlings for distribution to farmers under the Planting for Export and Rural Development (PERD) programme free of charge.

Mr Kwasi Amoako-Atta, the Minister of Roads and Highways, assured the people that the 21-kilometer Wechiau-Ga road among other major roads linking the district would be tarred to facilitate easy transportation of goods and services.

He said government was doing a lot of work in the road sector and that Ghanaians would begin to experience that by the end of 2020.

Naa Imoru Nandon Gomah II, Paramount Chief of the Wechiau Traditional Area, commended the President and his government for rolling out several development initiatives which has made life bearable for all Ghanaians.

He appealed for an assembly hall block and a school bus for the Lassia-Tuolu Senior High School (SHS) which was established 24 years ago by the Catholic Church.

After the durbar, President Akufo Addo commissioned a District Court building and accommodation at Wechiau before moving to address two separate durbars at Issa and Funsi in the Daffiama-Bussie-Issa and Wa West Districts respectively.

He also inspected construction work on the two district hospitals at Issa and Funsi and called on the contractors to speed up work to ensure timely completion.