Agric Minister engages in 'arm-chair analysis' - Senyo Hosi justifies calls for his resignation

Senyo Hosi, a former Chief Executive of the Chamber of Bulk Oil Distributors (CBOD), is calling for the immediate resignation of Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto, the Minister of Food and Agriculture as well as the Chief Director of the Ministry. According to him in a two-page letter, even though the ministry is being led by a PhD Agric-economist, his analytical capacity is one of mediocrity. Hosi further observed that the Minister and the Ministry engage in an "arm-chair analysis" and practice a culture of ‘knowing everything’, without adequate consultations and collaborations with industry players. He said Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto and the Chief Director at the Ministry have proven by their conduct that they are unfitness to lead in the policy space for this sector. "I find it most unfortunate that despite being led by a PhD Agric-economist, the analytical capacity of the MOFA is one of mediocrity. Just so you are reminded, despite the presence of MOFA in practically every district in the country, it is the Minister’s methodology that the distribution of fertilizer equals a given quantum of employment. "Since when did the distribution of fertilizer become a yardstick for acquiring employment data on a major policy intervention as the Planting for Food and Jobs? And I believe these bags of fertilizer that the Minister adopted as the basis for the Ministry’s employment data included the bags of fertilizer, he found being smuggled out of the country on unmanned donkeys he could only watch and do nothing about. "Respectfully, the arm-chair analysis the Minister and/or MOFA does with a culture of ‘knowing everything’, without adequate consultations and collaborations with industry, will take this country nowhere. "Your conduct and management of this matter is suboptimal and respectfully, proves your unfitness to lead in the policy space for this sector. It is no wonder that we have spent billions of cedis and yielded sub-optimal effect, under all kinds of sloganeering and questionable data reportage. "I respectfully call on the Minister and his Chief Director to resign with immediate effect to save this industry from total collapse," parts of Senyo Hosi's letter read. Background Senyo Hosi was asked by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture to furnish them with information to enable it to establish claims that he lost millions of cedis by relying on data from the ministry. The former Chief Executive of CBOD on Wednesday, October 26, chastised the statistics department of the ministry for churning out unreliable data. He disclosed that he lost millions of cedis for relying on the data from the Ministry when he decided to go into farming. “When I used data from the Ministry of Agriculture, I lost millions,” Senyo Hosi said at a 3business dialogue on agric. He added, “there is a failure at the top, I don’t think we have an Agric minister in this country.” The ministry in a statement described Hosi's statement as unfortunate and stated it undermines the integrity of the ministry. The ministry then challenged him [Senyo Hosi] to provide more information on his allegation to enable it to establish claims that he lost millions of cedis by relying on data from the ministry. The information the Ministry wants includes the nature of investments into which millions of Ghana cedis were sunk, the source of MoFA data that informed the failed investments, whether there was engagement with any technical directorate or senior official of the Ministry on the specific data related to the investments, and also whether a formal complaint was ever lodged, verbally or otherwise about the integrity of the data use. Read below Senyo Hosi's full statement.