Minister for Trade and Industry, Dr. Ekow Spio Garbrah, came under fire in Parliament on Thursday from both majority and minority members, after his Ministry reportedly issued a directive, banning the export of cashew nuts from Ghana.
The Ministry reportedly placed the ban on cashew exports in a bid to improve local processing of the crop, as part of efforts to boost job creation and deepen Ghana’s value addition agenda.
[contextly_sidebar id=”1F4DpGGmgTRRXcHyY7Bu6Hj32tEGzPnS”]According to the Ministry, it will confiscate any raw cashew brought into the port for export.
A directive issued by the Trade Ministry stated that purchase of raw cashew nuts was permitted only during the main harvesting season from January to June, but export of raw cashew nuts is permitted only after May 31 onward.
It added that any raw cashew nuts brought to ports or borders of Ghana for export between 31st March and 31st May, 2016, shall be confiscated to the state.
But the ban has reportedly forced tons of cashew nuts to go bad on farms in the Brong-Ahafo Region as cashew buyers are reportedly unable to export nuts to foreign markets.
At today’s sitting in Parliament MPs from the Majority side of the house, led by Majority leader Alban Bagbin, threw caution to the wind and opened fire on Dr. Ekow Spio Garbrah and accused him of unlawful conduct over the export ban.
Mr. Bagbin was of the view that the directive had no legal basis.
“He [ Dr. Ekow Spio Garbrah] has no legal basis for that directive and I think that if he had any good intentions at all, he should have sought legal support to do so.”
Mr. Bagbin also called on the Speaker of the House to force the Minister of Trade to withdraw the directive.
“I happy the directive is still not mature and the farmers in Brong-Ahafo Region have not yet been affected, but Mr. Speaker, leadership together with your good self will have to take immediate action to get the Minister to come out with another statement withdrawing the directive.”
Minority MPs also spoke out
The New Patriotic Paty MP for Dormaa West, Kweku Agyemang Manu, also spoke against the export ban and indicated that the prices of cashew will slump seriously because of the Trade Minister’s directive
He also explained that a policy was needed to guide the marketing of crops instead of a ban.
“So we need not only bring the Minster here but to actually drum home to government that there should be a policy to guide the marketing of some of these exotic crops that we have started planting. Either than that, this situation will continue to be there. When you have policies like this, they impact so negatively on people,” Mr. Agyemang Manu added.
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By Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana