There was massive food shortage in 2020 – CPP reacts to SONA

The Convention People’s Party (CPP) has rejected the claim by President Akufo-Addo that Ghana did not experience any food shortage in 2020.

The President in his first State of the Nation Address (SONA) of his second term on Tuesday, March 9, 2021 to in Parliament said Ghana did not experience food shortage in 2020 in spite of the COVID-19 pandemic because of "the bold policies" implemented by his administration since 2017.

He said policies such as the Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ) programme, Rearing for Food and Jobs, the 1-Village-1-Dam initiative, 1-District-1-Warehouse policy, and the establishment of greenhouse villages had prevented Ghana from experiencing a famine. 

But the CPP in a press statement signed by its General Secretary, Nana Yaa Akyempim Jantuah, said the claim was untrue.

The CPP says its search has revealed that contrary to the view by the president that there was no food shortage in the year under review, Ghana was dependent on the importation of food, agricultural products (Rice, Maize, tomatoes), and poultry products (Chicken) to supplement local production, stressing that “In the year 2020 there was a massive shortage of maize, tomatoes and basic food items in the country”.

According to the CPP, Ghana has been in total disarray under the Akufo-Addo-led administration, saying the address by the President failed to state in clear terms the exact state of Ghana but was rather “a repetition of recycled unfulfilled campaign promises.”

She said the President also failed to touch on very relevant issues including corruption, food security, quality education, employment, decent accommodation for citizens and Ghana’s current debt stock.

“The president failed to expatiate and address our ballooning national debt currently standing at approximately a whopping Two hundred and ninety – seven billion cedis (297.00 billion Ghana Cedis) which represent a close to 78% of our Gross Domestic Production (GDP)”, it stated.

The party added that “This fact alone is worrying because our true fiscal situation means that all the NPP so-called promises of projects and infrastructural developments are all rhetoric and cannot be done. It has come to the fore that this debt stock increased from One Hundred and Twenty Billion Ghana Cedis to present state.”

Read the full statement below: