Did Dafeamekpor, other NDC bigwigs goof over their ‘Ghana is now buying Cocoa’ bombshell?

Leading members of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) were up in arms on social media blasting the Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo government over the ‘import’ of cocoa beans from Cote D’Ivoire and Nigeria.

The NDC bigwigs, including the likes of the Member of Parliament for South Dayi, Rockson-Nelson Dafeamekpor and special aid to former President John Dramani Mahama, Joyce Bawah Mugtari, went on overdrive while reacting to an approval notice by the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) permitting a private company, AFROTROPIC Cocoa Beans Processing Company Limited, to import 3,500 tonnes of cocoa from Cote D’Ivoire and Nigeria.

“Ghana now reduced to importing Cocoa Beans under this inept administration! My brothers and sisters, this is where Bawumia and Akufo Addo have brought us…” Bawa Mugtari wrote on X.

Dafeamekpor also wrote “Bombshell: Ghana is now buying Cocoa from Cote D’Ivoire & Nigeria under this Govt. We are buying 3500 tonnes from them in a letter dated 25th Jan 2024. Yet, we were told by this Govt in 2022 led by Dr. Afriyie Akoto, that they’ve doubled our cocoa production. The fundamentals…”

Well, is there anything wrong with Ghana importing cocoa merely because it is a leading producer of the crop in the world? Has there been any precedence?

Importation of cocoa into Ghana in 2016 under Mahama:

The leadership of COCOBOD during the government of former President John Dramani Mahama admitted that a private company in the country imported cocoa into Ghana while dismissing reports that the country was now importing the crop.

In a press statement issued in Accra, COCOBOD disclosed that it is rather a local company, Barry Callebaut that imported 15,000 tonnes of small-size beans from Cote d’Ivoire.

Local processing companies, the statement added, processed 160,000 tonnes of small-size beans during the 2014/15 season, out of which, Barry Callebaut imported 15,000 tonnes from Cote D’Ivoire.

“Ghana Cocoa Board sells the small size beans to local processing companies at a discount of 20% because this type of cocoa is of lower quality as compared to the big size beans. The big-size beans is of a higher quality and is sold on the international market at a premium.

“Ghana is known for the production of premium quality cocoa beans. On the average, only 10 – 15% of cocoa produced in Ghana is small-size beans which is sold at a 20% discount to the local processing companies. 85-90% is big size beans which is of premium quality and is sold on the international market at a premium,” the statement stressed.

The then Minister for Finance, Seth Terkper, was reported to have said that the government is permitting the importation of cocoa beans from Cote d’Ivoire to feed local factories due to a shortfall in the commodity.

Seth Terkper is reported to have told parliament that the importation of cocoa beans into Ghana was not a new thing and had been done in 2005 and 2008, as he was justifying the importation of cocoa into the country then.

COCOBOD granting permission of cocoa to be imported in Ghana in 2016

Is it wrong for a major producer of a good to import them?:

In international trade, there is nothing wrong with a country importing goods they already produce in large quantities. Demand for import of a country’s major export is often driven by taste and quantity of products among other factors.

For instance, Nigeria is 4th highest cocoa producer globally but it still imports the product. Also, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands are all major exporters of cheese but they also import huge quantities of the commodity into their countries.

In fact, oil-producing giants like the United States and Saudi Arabia still import oil. So, it is not a crime to import products you are a major exporter of.

View the tweets shared by the NPP bigwigs and others below: