What has been done to the cocoa sector is almost criminal - Joe Jackson

The CEO of Dalex Finance, Joe Jackson has accused the previous Akufo-Addo-led administration of nearly destroying the cocoa sector, particularly due to its failure to fulfill cocoa deliveries for last year's loan season.

Speaking on TV3’s Keypoints on Saturday, March 1, Mr. Jackson stated that Ghana has already mortgaged its cocoa this year, making it impossible to stabilize the value of the cedi. 

He made these remarks while contributing to a discussion on the State of the Nation Address (SONA) delivered by President John Dramani Mahama on Thursday, February 27, 2025.

"Cocoa has been the bedrock of this economy. We've watched the cocoa sector practically destroyed. We are doing less than 30 per cent of what we were doing in 2016. We were not even able to fulfil the deliveries for last year's cocoa loan, so that this year, we've already motgaged cocoa," he said.

"When you say you are going to hold the value of the cedi, the biggest fear I have is, the world's hold the value of the cedi is cocoa and what has been done to the cocoa sector is almost criminal such that any attempt to hold the value of the cedi this year is going to be severely armstrung by what has happened in the cocoa sector. The economy is in dire straits," he stressed.

He further criticized the previous government, claiming that Ghana was financially broken under their leadership, as the government was unable to settle its debts.

“Ghana is broke and we continue to be broke. If you can’t pay your debt are you not broke? We feed SHS students on less than 2 Cedis a day so what are we talking about? Anybody who disagrees is living in a different reality,” he added.