NDC not using cocoa money for campaign – Veep

Vice President Kwesi Amissah-Arthur, has denied allegations  that the Government has stashed away funds meant to purchase cocoa beans and is using it for the campaign of President John Mahama. He said there was no truth in the allegation being made by their opponent, and thus asked the public, especially cocoa farmers, to disregard it. Vice ...

Vice President Kwesi Amissah-Arthur, has denied allegations  that the Government has stashed away funds meant to purchase cocoa beans and is using it for the campaign of President John Mahama.

He said there was no truth in the allegation being made by their opponent, and thus asked the public, especially cocoa farmers, to disregard it.

Vice President Amissah-Arthur denied the claim when addressed the chiefs and people of the cocoa growing areas of Asunafo North in the Brong Ahafo Region.

Some of the places he visited included Awewoho-Manhyia, Pomaakrom, Manukrom, Asamura, Akrodie, Fawohoyedin and Ayomso, all in the Asutifi North Constituency.

The Vice President is on a three-day campaign tour of the Brong-Ahafo Region.

Vice President Amissah-Arthur is being accompanied on the campaign tour by Eric Opoku, the Brong-Ahafo Regional Minister, Barbara Serwah Asamoah, a Deputy Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Mr Samuel Ofosu Ampofo, National Vice Chairman of the NDC, Mr Yaw Boateng Gyan, a former National Organiser of the NDC, among others.

The major concerns of the people in the cocoa growing areas are the bad roads and the lack of mobile telephone network.

They therefore appealed to the Vice President to expedite action on them, so that they could communicate with their people and also ensure easy transportation of their goods, services and commuters.

Vice President Amissah-Arthur assured the people that, the NDC Government would continue to pay cocoa farmers well and also utilise the amount set aside for cocoa roads to improve the road networks in the six cocoa producing regions of the country.

He said already some officials from the Ghana Infrastructure Fund for Electronic Communication (GIFEC), had visited some of the communities and they would soon be back to address some of their challenges.

He said the cocoa sector continued to be critical to Ghana’s economic and social development.

It was for this reason, he said, that the Government paid a lot of attention to the sector, with a special focus on the farmers.

Vice President Amissah-Arthur said the Government had set aside 150 million dollars annually of proceeds from cocoa and earmarked it for the cocoa roads.

He explained that, the programme had been divided into phases and appealed to the communities that had not been covered to be patient as it would get to their turn.

He also urged supporters of the NDC to restrain themselves from all forms of provocation and vote massively for President Mahama on December 7.

 

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Source: GNA

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