The Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) has refuted assertions that it has abandoned cocoa road projects that were awarded by former president John Dramani Mahama.
COCOBOD says it has completed 56 of such projects and paid many contractors who raised certificates in 2017.
Speaking on Citi TV’s The Point of View program, the Manager of Public Affairs at COCOBOD, Fiifi Boafo said the body has paid more than GH¢800 million to the contractors
“About 56 roads have been completed… Certificates, as at January 2017, that had been raised for work done by the previous administration, over GH¢800 million has been paid,” he said.
The opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) has consistently accused the government of abandoning Cocoa Road projects started during the John Mahama administration.
The leader of the party, John Mahama has also repeatedly mentioned this on his campaign tour of cocoa-growing areas, telling residents that he will continue work on all of such abandoned projects.
He also accused the government of rushing to continue the abandoned projects ahead of the elections for political reasons.
Mahama deserves praise for development in cocoa sector
Meanwhile, the NDC’s spokesperson on cocoa affairs, Eric Opoku has said the contributions of John Mahama in the cocoa sector are worth commending and must be recognized.
“In fact, if there is anybody to commend for having contributed significantly towards the development and improvement in the cocoa sector in this country, [Ex] President Mahama should be the one to be mentioned. It is rather unfortunate that as top politicians, as we engage our people, we intend to use some of these abusive words without any evidence to demonstrate that what we are saying is anchored on facts. [Former] President Mahama while in office realized that the cocoa farmers contributed to the country’s development and so it was important for us to fix the cocoa roads from the rural communities to the urban communities. But the [NPP] government has failed to hear the cries of cocoa farmers. We have always asked for cocoa audit reports but it has not been provided,” he said.