Government says the salary of the Chief Executive Officer of COCOBOD, Joseph Aidoo, was slashed by 30% as part of measures to restructure the cocoa sector.
This, government says, also forms part of measures to amass enough funds to ensure the welfare of cocoa farmers across the country.
This is in response to criticisms from the minority in parliament that the NPP government is doing close to nothing to enhance the cocoa sector.
The minority NDC accused the NPP government of being insensitive to the plight of cocoa farmers in the country by failing to increase the producer price of cocoa for the 2018/2019 cocoa season.
Addressing the media in Accra, Deputy Minister of Agriculture Kennedy Osei Nyarko noted that government is doing all it can to boost the cocoa sector and create a comfortable environment for cocoa farmers across the country.
He said government has not increased the salaries of workers within the cocoa sector for some time now, all in a bid to boost the cocoa sector.
“It is worthy to note that workers in the cocoa industry have not received any pay increase for the past three years. The cocoa marketing board has rather reduced the Chief Executive Officer’s remuneration by 30%.”
He added, “The NPP government decided to slash the salary of the CEO of COCOBOD by 30%, so he is not taking that …the previous administration was paying the CEO.”
“Therefore, it is very misleading for the minority to create such a wrong and unfortunate partisan impression,” Mr. Kennedy Osei Nyarko noted.
He insisted that the government is committed to ensuring the well-being of cocoa farmers in the country by putting measures in place to tackle issues affecting farmers.
“Barely two months ago, the ministry was in parliament to discuss with the Select Committee challenges confronting the cocoa sector, and seek approval for a syndicated loan of GH?1.3 billion for the 2018/2019 crop season.”
He noted, “In this year, cocoa price on the world market sank as low as USD 2,080 at exchange rate of 4.4 a tonne sold for GH?9,152, and yet the Akufo-Addo government keeping faith with the farmers maintained the 2016/2-17 price of GH?475 per bag.”
“This translates into the government paying 83% to the farmer; this confirms the government’s consistency of ensuring that the universal formula of paying a minimum of 70% is preserved,” the deputy minister stated.
He further assured Ghanaians, especially the cocoa farmers that government is working towards ensuring that they work under the best conditions.
Source: 3news.com| Ghana
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