Nana Kassim Okyere Obeng, the Obengkrom Chief in the Abura-Asebu-Kwamankese Constituency of the Central Region, did not hold back in his criticism of President John Mahama over his reduction in cocoa prices.
According to Obengkrom Chief, President John Mahama is “a cheat” who has failed to fulfil his promises to cocoa farmers.
He further declared that President John Mahama should step down for someone else to take over if he cannot rule the country.
Speaking to members of the Minority delegation and residents of Obengkrom near Asuansi, Nana Kassim Okyere Obeng expressed frustration, saying, “For us, the farmers, we have realised that President John Dramani Mahama is a cheat. We have seen that he is someone who does not fulfil his promises”.
“At this point, if he cannot continue ruling the country properly, then he should step down for someone else to take over,” he added.
The Chief further fired shots at the Member of Parliament for the area, Felix Kwakye Ofosu.
He accused him of neglecting constituents after winning political office.
Nana Kassim Okyere Obeng alleged, “Our MP, Felix Kwakye Ofosu, is also deceitful. Before he became an MP, we used to communicate frequently, but now when I send him messages, he does not even respond”.
“Today, many cocoa farmers are suffering because of the reduction in cocoa prices. A lot of farmers are cutting down their cocoa farms and turning to palm plantations because they can no longer survive,” he lamented.
In related news, President John Dramani Mahama has said the recent International Cocoa price drop must be a wake-up call for Ghana.
According to John Mahama, almost 70 years after Ghana gained independence, the country is still exporting raw beans to the world.
President Mahama stated, “The recent incident with cocoa, with the prices plummeting, and you see all the videos of ‘Mahama wo de y3 ka’ of cocoa farmers protesting in the cocoa farms, is because for almost 70 years after we gained independence, we’re still exporting raw beans to the world”.
“I believe that what has happened in the international market should be a wake-up call for us, and that we must allocate more of our beans, and we’re taking the first step to doing that,” he indicated.
President Mahama added, “We’re changing the financing model. Before, we got the traders and others who buy the cocoa to advance the money for us to buy the cocoa from our farmers. Now, we say we’re going to raise the money ourselves and buy our own cocoa,” he stated.
“While we’re taking the money from the traders to buy the cocoa from our farmers, the collateral for the money they were advancing us was the cocoa beans. And so once you bought the cocoa beans, it was collateral for the financing they gave you.
“So, now if we raise our money, we buy our own cocoa. Our cocoa is not collateral to anybody, and so we can decide what to do with it, and we’re saying that we’re going to allocate the bulk of our cocoa to the local processors to process that cocoa before we export it,” he concluded.
Watch the video below:
@dadzietv UPDATE || Eiii 😳 The Chief of Obengkrom did not hold back at all as he described his MP as a liar and also had some strong words for President John Dramani Mahama over the reduction in cocoa prices again 🌚🔥 The angry chief openly expressed the frustrations of the cocoa farmers during the Minority’s visit to the community. Just listen to him 👇🏾 @NPPTV ♬ original sound – Dadzie TV