General News of Monday, 7 September 2020

Source: www.ghanaweb.com

I’ll rename Agric Ministry if I become President – Mahama

Former President, John Dramani Mahama Former President, John Dramani Mahama

Former president John Dramani Mahama who is seeking reelection in the upcoming December polls has targeted the Agric Ministry as one of the major contributors to the country’s economy he’ll pay attention to once elected.

According to him, the current name of the Ministry does not capture the essential components of Agriculture thus, his decision to rename it if he’s successful at kicking out the Akufo-Addo-led government.

The former president believes Agriculture and all it entails has evolved from the usual way of life for a particular group of people to a business which must receive the needed attention and boost it deserves.

Announcing his proposed name for the ministry in interaction with Radio Waa over the weekend, John Mahama said “…it’s good to encourage production but after you have produced what do you do? That’s why I say we’ll rename the Ministry into the Ministry of Food and Agri-Business…”

In an attempt to defend his proposed change of name, the flagbearer of the main opposition party went on to say that “…we want to emphasize the agri-business aspect of it. Agriculture is now a business not a way of life.”

John Mahama was speaking on the back of some poorly executed promises of the ruling NPP government as regards the agricultural sector.

He maintained that some projects like the One Village One Dam and the Planting for Food and Jobs were either executed poorly or have been riddled with various forms of corruption.

“I mean this One Village One Dam you can’t use it for anything. They’re actually not dams. They’re being misdescribed, they’re dugouts; it cows that drink from them, nobody can use it for any irrigation purposes…Planting for Food and Jobs a lot of fertilizers were smuggled to Burkina Faso and other places…” John Mahama said.