Amissah-Arthur denies allegations of cocoa money for campaign
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 had, therefore, 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 the Asunafo North of the Brong Ahafo Region.
Some of the places he visited are Awewoho-Manhyia, Pomaakrom, Manukrom, Asamura, Akrodie, Fawohoyedin and Ayomso, all in the Asutifi North Constituency of the Brong Ahafo Region.
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 Mr 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 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 very soon would 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 annually from 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 urged the supporters of the NDC to restrain themselves from all forms of provocation and vote massively for President Mahama on December 7.
Mr Samuel Ofosu Ampofo, the first Vice Chairman of the NDC, encouraged cocoa farmers to take their cocoa beans to the buying centres as there was enough money to pay them.
He assured cocoa farmers that the government would continue to make the sector attractive in the country.
He said the Government had made many interventions in the sector which had helped to enhance incomes and livelihoods of farmers and boost rural economies.
Mr Ofosu Ampofo also announced that the Government would continue to distribute cocoa seedlings and fertilisers free of charge to farmers.
He said so far, about 60 million seedlings had been distributed, adding that, the objective of the programme was to bring the seedlings closer to the doorsteps of the farming communities.
Source: GNA