Member of Parliament for the Asunafo South constituency, Eric Opoku, has claimed that Ghana has been ranked as one of the top African countries with high food inflation.

The ranking member on food and agriculture in Ghana’s 8th Parliament said it baffles him to hear about the claim that ‘planting for food and jobs’ has been successful when the food inflation in the country is high.

He claimed that this is the worst food inflation record ever recorded since the reign of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, and the earlier drastic decisions taken to change the situation, the better for all Ghanaians.

“Food security is the most important aspect of everything that is done under agriculture, and the first thing is that food must be affordable for everyone to be able to buy for feeding, but Mr Speaker, Ghana is currently listed among the 10 African countries with the highest food inflation in the world.”

“This is a bad record, and it has never happened in this country since Nkrumah’s time. Records show that the lowest recorded was in 2014 under John Mahama, but the highest has been recorded under Akufo-Addo, and this is a bad omen for us,” Eric Opoku said on the floor of Parliament.

The ranking member further advised the minister for food and agriculture, Bryn Acheampong, to do away with politics and be firm with phase two of the planting for Food and jobs programme in order to achieve the desired results.

“Mr. Speaker, the problem is that if you politicise a programme like Planting for Food and Jobs, you will surely encounter problems.

The Majority Leader seems not to understand my position, but I want to remind him that even the President cautioned party people not to involve themselves in it.”