Workers of the Cocoa Research Institute at Tafo in the Eastern Region who are supporters of the NDC are not likely to vote for the party in the elections this December because of a vicious propaganda the NPP has spread there that the John Mahama government has on the quiet postponed to next year its intention to lay most of them off.
Intelligence picked up by the Daily Post indicates that some senior staffers of the Research Institute, led by one of the Directors, I Y Opoku, are behind this dirty propaganda in a bid to ensure that NDC supporters, their family members and other relatives do not vote for the party in the forthcoming elections. Sources say as a result of open threats of dismissal made by I Y Opoku, a dye-in-the wool supporter of the NPP, the Eastern Regional Minister, Ambassador Victor Smith, was compelled to send a prominent citizen of Kukurantumi to go and warn him to desist from his nefarious acts.
Mr. Opoku, we are told, had wanted to contest for the Assin Foso seat in the NPP primaries but had to withdraw after he was told he would have to relinquish his position at the Cocoa Research Institute if he wants to go into partisan politics.
Further intel this paper picked up indicates that Mr. I Y Opoku is unhappy that under the NDC government, cocoa production has reached one million tonnes. As a result, he has vowed, unless the NPP comes to power, to ensure that this feat is not repeated. As a result, he has been sabotaging the mass spraying of cocoa farms which will ensure higher yields by refusing to release chemicals for the spraying of cocoa farms.
Currently, as a result of the NPP propaganda, NDC supporters of the institute have decided to either vote for the NPP or abstain from voting to ensure that the NDC does not win the December elections.
