Justin Frimpong Kodua, the General Secretary of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), has slammed the John Mahama-led government over Ghana’s cocoa sector crisis.
The NPP General Secretary stressed that it is “absurd” and “untenable” for the NDC government to blame its shortfall in the cocoa sector on the NPP.
According to Justin Kodua, the NDC government is lost in the ocean, and debunked claims that the previous New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration mismanaged the sector.
He detailed that the decision by the NDC government to reduce the price of cocoa from GH₵3,625 to GH₵2,587 explains how the government is lost in the ocean.
Speaking on the issue of cocoa pricing on TV3 on Friday, February 13, 2026, Kodua explained, “Well, it would be totally absurd, repugnant, and unconscionable on the part of the NDC government to label any blame against the New Patriotic Party for their incompetence. At least they have been in government for over a year now, and when they took over the realm of affairs, they were mindful of the state of the economy”.
“In 2025, the cocoa price was around GH₵3,100 per bag, and somewhere during July, they increased it to GH₵3,600. So, when they increased the cocoa price, they didn’t accuse the previous government of mismanagement, of having destroyed the cocoa sector.
He argued, “If the sector was destroyed, how were you able to increase the cocoa price? So, that accusation that they are trying to label against the New Patriotic Party is untenable”.
“If you want to understand the real cause of where we are as a government, as a party, and as a country, then people will also appreciate that, indeed, the decision by the NDC government to reduce the price from GH₵3,625 to GH₵2,587 explains how the government is lost in the ocean,” Kodua noted.
The NPP General Secretary added, “This issue about the crisis started somewhere in October where cocoa farmers, after they had cultivated their produce, had to sell it to people referred to as purchasing clerks. In some instances where the purchasing clerks don’t have money, they take the cocoa bags under the terms and agreement that they are going to pay the cocoa farmers X amount, which at that time was GH₵3,600.
“At that point, the farmer never anticipated that a day would come when the government would come back and tell the cocoa farmer that it had reduced the price which has been agreed between the purchasing clerk and the farmer… At what point did the government get to know that there were serious issues in the cocoa sector?” he questioned.
Meanwhile, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, the member of parliament for Ofoase Ayirebi, has said close to one million Cocoa farmers are receiving haircuts with the Mahama government decision to cut the cocoa price by 28.6%.
According to Oppong Nkrumah, the 28.6 per cent cut will adversely affect the livelihoods of over one million cocoa farmers nationwide and also impact about 4 million people who depend on the cocoa farmers.
Speaking to journalists in Accra on Thursday, February 12, the Ranking Member on Parliament’s Economy and Development Committee, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, stated, “This action to announce a 28.6% reduction in the price amounts to a haircut of about 28 per cent, close to one million Ghanaian cocoa farmers, you may not recognise it.
This 28.6% haircut is going to affect about one million Ghanaian cocoa farmers, and if you add to it the number of people who assist them on the farms and their dependants my gosh, we are getting to 3 to 4 million people who are going to be affected by this haircut”.
Additionally, the Minority in Parliament told President John Dramani Mahama to immediately dismiss the Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Cocoa Board, Dr Randy Abbey, over the ongoing crisis facing the cocoa sector.
According to the Minority, the recent reduction in the producer price of cocoa will have serious consequences for cocoa farmers and their families.
Kojo Oppong Nkrumah added, “… Respectfully, we ask the president to relieve the COCOBOD Board CEO of his responsibilities at this point in time.”
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