The Minority in Parliament has strongly criticized COCOBOD’s decision to adopt self-financing for the 2024/2025 cocoa season, and labels it a desperate attempt to conceal deeper financial troubles.
On August 20, COCOBOD CEO Joseph Boahen Aidoo mentioned plans to end the organization’s reliance on foreign loans for the upcoming cocoa season. It projects savings of $150 million. For over three decades, COCOBOD has depended on external borrowing to fund cocoa purchases.
However, the Minority Leader, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, in a statement on Wednesday August 21, dismissed this new strategy as a “fabricated” move to obscure COCOBOD’s eroding creditworthiness.
He claimed that the long-standing practice of securing offshore funds had been essential in stabilizing Ghana’s economy, and its abandonment signals a crisis in the cocoa sector.
The Minority further accused the government of mismanagement, stating that the cocoa industry is now in dire need of competent leadership to steer it back on course. They alleged that international banks declined COCOBOD’s request for a prepayment loan in June 2024, reflecting the depth of the sector’s troubles.