The New Patriotic Party’s Agriculture Policy Committee has called on President John Mahama to withhold assent to the Ghana Cocoa Bill, 2026 and return it to Parliament for broader stakeholder consultation.

Speaking at a press conference, Dr. Isaac Yaw Opoku, co-chair of the NPP Agric Policy Committee and Ranking Member on Cocoa Affairs and Agriculture, said the bill in its current form grants excessive discretionary power and lacks clarity on key mandates.

The committee is asking Parliament to remove or substantially narrow the ministerial exemption in Clause 4(b), so that any expansion of COCOBOD’s mandate would require a separate enactment.

“We also ask Parliament to clarify on the face of the bill that external marketing of cocoa remains vested in the Cocoa Marketing Company, or state expressly the government’s intention regarding Clause 59(1)(e),” Dr. Opoku said.

The NPP further called for Clause 81 to be amended to exempt cocoa tree removals carried out in line with COCOBOD’s published agronomic guidelines, and to confine the requirement for prior approval.

Report by Bernard K Dadzie