Flagbearer for the National Democratic Congress (NDC), John Dramani Mahama, has promised to build cocoa processing factories in every cocoa-growing region of the country when elected president in 2024.
Speaking to constituents in the Bodi constituency of the Western North region, the former President mentioned that, since the colonial days, Ghana’s cocoa beans have been exported without processing, allowing the western world to process the beans and later bring the processed product back into the country to make more profits than the farmer who produced the cocoa beans.
This, according to Mr. Mahama, will change in 2024 when he is elected President of the Republic, adding that “the NDC will build cocoa processing factories in cocoa-growing regions to put a stop to the exporting of raw cocoa beans.”.
“We will process our own cocoa beans into finished products to gain more revenue to be able to pay farmers the right amount they deserve”, Mahama stressed.
The former president, though attesting to the fact that there are processing factories in the country, also mentioned that they are not enough since the factories are not evenly distributed across the country.
John Mahama, who is currently on a two-day Building Ghana tour of the Western North region, has been engaging chiefs and constituents to rally behind him and the NDC come 2024.
As part of the tour and engagement, constituents, especially farmers, traders, and chiefs, were given the opportunity to communicate their problems and what they expected leaders to do for them.
Mr. Mahama assured that various concerns raised by individuals, groups, and chiefs will be factored into the party’s manifesto for the upcoming elections.
