Cocoa farmer speaks out

The Statesman reports on its back-page that a prominent cocoa farmer in the Ashanti Region,

Nana Yaw Boakye, has called on the government to furnish the nation with details of a special account reserved for Ghana by the Cocoa Buffer Stock Manager in London.

Nana Boakye said this is necessary because there were speculation that the NDC government would dip its hands into the account to fight this year's elections.

He recounted that in 1996, the government sacked Dr Adjei Maafo, then Presidential aide in charge of cocoa schedule, upon a private media report that it had withdrawn money from the special account. It however, failed to pursue the matter further despite popular agitation for a probe.

He said the account, which was set up in 1997 is shrouded in near secrecy and thus could be easily manipulated.