April 8, 2025
PRESS RELEASE
The NPP government started a programme under the Planting for Food and Jobs phase 2 to supply fertilisers to all farmers in the country. Under the programme, agricultural extension officers registered farmers by going to their farms and taking coordinates before registering them with their Ghana cards. The programme was to give each farmer 2 bags of NPK and a bag of urea. The distribution centre is the Yilo Krobo Warehouse at New Somanya, a warehouse constructed by Nana-Bawumia Administration. This centre serves 7 assemblies, namely Upper Manya, Lower Manya, Asuogyaman, Yilo Krobo, Okere, Akwapim South and Akwapim North. This programme was ongoing until NDC thugs disrupted and stalled the distribution.
What is currently happening after the distribution has begun after the appointment of the Regional Minister would not promote the interest of the Krobo farmer and farmers in the 7 assemblies.
• That the Regional Minister has politicised the programme after her appointment by appointing one Tijani as the sole coordinator for the distribution in the Eastern Region.
• That rules and regulations pertaining to the distribution at each centre have been breached. In the sense that the original registered farmers list is not being used.
• That the Agric officers who are mandated to take charge of the distribution are now helpless and cannot act because the Regional Minister has appointed Tijani who now give directives as to how the distribution should be done, without recourse to the original registered farmers and the Agric officers.
• That Yilo krobo constituency has been faithful to the NDC to be robbed by their own Government in less than 3 months in office. Instead of being given 850 bags at the warehouse, the Department of Agriculture in Yilo Krobo was given only 479. In total, over 1500 farmers in Yilo Krobo will not get their fertiliser because of these criminal activities of Mr Tijani and that of some NDC constituency executives in Yilo Krobo, who are selling these fertilisers in Somanya.
• That The reduction in allocation will affect all these 7 districts who pick their fertilisers from the new Somanya warehouse in Somanya.
• That modus operandi is that this Tijani will order that some trucks be loaded for the regional minister’s protocol, which is diverted to these executives to sell.
• That This accounts for reasons why some farmers who have been notified that their fertilisers are in go to the centre but cannot get what is due them because there has been a diversion.
How would the Yilo Krobo farmer progress under these unfortunate circumstances? And if not for the appointment of Tijani by the Regional Minister, would there be a blatant disregard for the farmers list?
What is refreshing is that some of the constituency executives NDC who are against the sale are bent on fighting this matter. At one of their meetings, the officers involved attempted to bribe their colleagues. There is tension among the NDC party members in Yilo Krobo.
And the good people of Yilo and surrounding assemblies need to know what is happening at the warehouse at New Somanya, which is not going to benefit the krobo farmer and the farmers in the Assemblies that fall on the Yilo Krob warehouse for their supplies. And they must rise up and fight this together, corruption must be fight in whichever form or shape it takes.
END
SIGNED
Julius Afedi
Communications Officer
New Patriotic Party (NPP)
Yilo Krobo Constituency
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