Minority threatens to write to AfDB over $600m COCOBOD loan
The Minority in Parliament says it intends to write to the African Development Bank(AfDB) over the $600 million loan agreement between the government of Ghana and the Bank for the productivity enhancement of cocoa.
Ranking member and Minority Spokesperson on Finance Cassiel Ato Forson contends the structure of the loan agreement is unacceptable, a reason for its decision for an urgent correspondence with lenders over the red flags.
“But today the minority members are going to write officially to the lenders, protesting the use of proceeds on this 600 million and the structure of the loan agreement is not acceptable, it is an outlier and nobody should encourage this thing to happen in this Republic,”
He added:” I will be the first person to support anything that seeks to enhance cocoa productivity but the structure of this loan, I cannot be part of it.”
Government is seeking to use over 10 million dollars of the $600 million loan to gather a database of farmers and over 7 million for promotion of consumption of cocoa products.
Presenting the report on the facility on Tuesday, Chairman for the Finance Committee, Dr. Mark Assibey-Yeboah argued that measures to be rolled out will soar Ghana’s production of cocoa to about a million tonnes annually.
Approval of the loan agreement was consequently deferred by first deputy speaker Joseph Osei-Owusu even though the report was adopted amidst controversy.
Source: kasapafmonline.com