The wages of propaganda can be devastating releasing as it does enormous lessons to those who have embraced this path of communication. The spectacle at the façade of the COCOBOD headquarters in Accra at the time of composing this leader is arguably a maiden and troubling development in the history of the cocoa management state agency.
Picketing cocoa farmers showcasing assortment of placards convey their pain and angst which can be summed thus “you lied to us, pay us the amount you promised us when you came campaigning for votes. We have had enough of your lies.”
We would find it difficult to believe that the NDC at the time they were campaigning in the cocoa growing areas meant it when they promised the amounts they were quoting for the prices they were going to offer the farmers when they come to power.
Were they so naïve as to at the time think that cocoa pricing is dependent upon the whims of politicians sitting in their comfort zones at the seat of power and authority?
Did they really mean it or they were simply dishonest when they presented themselves as angels when it comes to the management of cocoa and their political opponents villains?
Did they deliberately ignore the fallouts from the Opuni administration’s financial faux pas on the cocoa sector? Here we are today with the cocoa sector literally disintegrating under the watch of an NDC administration.
The wages of propaganda indeed can be telling. Information reaching us has it that the Ghana Agricultural Workers Union requested a meeting with the CEO of COCOBOD Randy Abbey but this as it would appear been subtly declined because the beleaguered man is out of jurisdiction. If indeed he is, on an official mission we think that is a misplacement of priority.
With the assemblage of cocoa farmers at his doorsteps some of them advanced in age his presence to address them would have gone a long way in assuaging their pain.
The cocoa issue is very serious especially since the farmers are nowhere near standing down. Nobody expected it and it is surprising that the National Security apparatus did not see it coming let alone advise government beforehand so the subject could be packaged alternatively.
Let the propaganda wing of the NDC at Jubilee House whatever its nomenclature know that presenting party activists as cocoa farmers and having them claim to have been paid to demonstrate against the cocoa price haircuts is disingenuous and imbecile.
It sounds infantile to think that the NPP at this time of its reorganization would have the time and even resources to engage in such counter-propaganda tactics.
Such trajectory is hardly traversed by the NPP, that path being a preferred NDC favourite and specialization.
At times of crisis it takes the intelligent and sincere to come up with solutions to manage the emergences such as being encountered in the cocoa sector.
We would be mendacious in our remarks when we state that government and indeed Randy Abbey are underestimating the level of heat the cocoa price haircut has generated. We are sure anyway that what is lacking currently is how to address the concerns of the farmers.
The times ahead would be arduous and represent a challenging test for the government’s crisis management skills.
