If the CEO of the Ghana Cocoa Board permitted the purchase of cocoa from Cote d’Ivoire and Nigeria, he should be hauled before parliament and fired, according to John Kwakye, Director of Research at the Institute of Economic Affairs.
He claimed that since PBC, the nation’s cocoa processing company, is now having difficulty operating, the clearance for the imports is illogical.
“If it’s true that the CEO of COCOBOD has given the go-ahead for AFROTROPIC to import cocoa from Cote d’Ivoire and Nigeria for local processing while PBC is running out of money to purchase cocoa from Ghanaian farmers, he should be hauled before Parliament and eventually fired by the President,” John Kwakye commented on X.
Bright Simons, the vice president of the policy think tank IMANI Africa, has previously mentioned that Ghana’s principal state-owned cocoa trader is in danger of filing for bankruptcy.
He said that as of 2023, the company has cut its workforce from 3,000 to less than 1,000 employees and that it still intends to fire further employees.
Though emphasizing that the company’s management is unaffected by the widespread layoffs, Bright Simons bemoaned to the parliament the plight of the workers.
PBC’s current predicament cannot be fixed.” Additionally, Cocoa Processing Company (CPC) is in danger of going bankrupt. Since it has collateralized the majority of its supply, Cocobod barely has any cocoa to sell; therefore, it is unable to profit from the extraordinarily high spot prices. Will SOEs ever function in Ghana?
Source: 1FamilyRadio