John Dramani Mahama, the Presidential candidate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) has criticised Cocobod for prioritising excessive spending at its headquarters in Accra over investment in cocoa farmers.

Speaking on Sunrise FM on Friday, November 22, to conclude his five-day tour of the Eastern region, Mahama raised concerns about Cocobod’s financial management practices, especially in the face of declining cocoa production.

Cocoa farmers have been struggling for a long time and even Cocobod sees fit to spend huge sums of money on its headquarters.
“This is unacceptable. In the last four years, cocoa production has fallen to 555,000 tonnes, while Cocobod’s headquarters expenditure has reached an alarming figure of GHC 3.4 billion in 2023. How will our hardworking farmers benefit from this? They would rather spend their money on cars and undeserved salaries.”

Mahama also outlined plans to revive the cocoa sector and improve farmers’ livelihoods if elected in 2024.
“We have said we will manage the cocoa sector better. Cocoa farmers will benefit a lot from our government. We plan to implement year-round irrigation in cocoa growing areas and build cocoa processing factories to add value to the country,” he added.