Ghana’s parliamentary Minority Caucus has thrown a sharp spotlight on the Mahama-led government, accusing it of funnelling substantial public money into National Democratic Congress party structures each month — even as cocoa farmers across the country sink deeper into financial hardship. The allegation comes amid a nationwide tour of cocoa-growing communities by Minority lawmakers, who say the visits have exposed a grim reality on the ground. Farmers are battling on two fronts: producer prices that have been slashed and payments that arrive late or not at all. For a country whose economy still leans heavily on cocoa exports, the distress rippling through farming communities carries implications far beyond the rural belt. Minority Chief Whip Frank Annoh-Dompreh, who made the claims in a Facebook post on Saturday, did not mince words about where the government’s attention appears to be directed. “It is deeply troubling that while cocoa farmers are struggling with reduced prices and delayed payments, significant public funds are reportedly being spent monthly on party structures. This raises serious questions about priorities,” he said. The veteran lawmaker described the contrast between political expenditure and farmer welfare as a damning indictment of the NDC administration’s spending choices. Throughout the tour, Annoh-Dompreh said his caucus has encountered farmers whose livelihoods hang by a thread. He called for an immediate course correction, demanding the restoration of competitive producer prices and the clearing of outstanding payments owed to growers. “The NDC Government must prioritize the cocoa sector by restoring fair producer prices and ensuring prompt payment to farmers. Redirecting resources to support livelihoods, rather than politically driven expenditures, is the only responsible path forward,” he stated. The Minority’s broadside taps into a familiar tension in Ghanaian politics — the question of whether ruling parties invest more in consolidating partisan machinery than in productive sectors. Cocoa, which employs hundreds of thousands of smallholder farmers and remains one of the country’s top foreign exchange earners, has long served as a barometer of government commitment to the agricultural base. Any perception that the sector is being neglected in favour of party-building spending is politically combustible. The NDC government has not yet responded publicly to the specific allegations about funds directed to party structures. But pressure is mounting. Annoh-Dompreh pledged that the Minority would not ease up on its campaign, signalling more community engagements and parliamentary scrutiny in the weeks ahead. “We will not relent. We will continue to stand with our farmers and fight for what is right until justice is restored,” he declared. With cocoa season well underway and farmer frustration deepening, the ruling party now faces a pointed question it cannot afford to leave unanswered: if the money is not reaching the farms, where exactly is it going?
Source: Citi Newsroom
