Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto, Agric Minister-designate
Some Farmers in the northern parts of the country say they will keenly monitor the Vetting Proceedings on Friday when the Minister-designate for Food and Agriculture, Hon. Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto appears before the House.
The farmers say due to the COVID-19 restrictions which makes it impossible for them to appear in person to give moral support to the nominee, they will spend their time behind their television and radio sets to watch proceedings.
Hon. Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto will on Friday take his turn to appear before Vetting Committee following his renomination as the Minister-Designate for Food and Agriculture.
With many crediting him for reviving Ghana's agricultural sector which until 2017 was in comatose, through the highly successful Planting for Food and Jobs initiative, some beneficiaries in the Upper East, Upper West and the other Northern Regions say they are solidly behind the nominee, expressing optimism that he will sail through the vetting process with ease.
"We are fully confident that our father, 'Dr. Planting for Food and Jobs' will pass the vetting on Friday; he has performed creditably well and we farmers are waiting anxiously for him to come and continue his good works" Alaska Kantong, a member of the Farmer Friends Forum in the Upper West Region stated.
He said the various interventions which were spearheaded by Hon. Dr Afriyie Akoto had improved the lots of many Ghanaian farmers, particularly those in the northern parts of the country whose economic mainstay is farming.
He noted that the group took the news of the renomination of Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto with so much excitement and expressed their appreciation to the President, His Excellency Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, for the wise decision.
"Initially we were thinking the President would move him to another Ministry but when the news came out that he was returning to the Agric Ministry, we were all very happy," He said.
Mr Alaska Kantong said it was for this reason that he and other members of the Forum in the northern regions of Ghana have resolved to spend their time on Friday at home to watch the vetting process.
"We would have travelled all the way to Accra to give him moral support but unfortunately because of the COVID-19 and the President's directives on mass gathering we cannot do that"
