‘Agric minister will never ask for COCOBOD bungalow’ – Deputy dismisses

Deputy Food and Agriculture minister has rubbished reports, the minister, Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto, wants a bungalow owned by a parastatal, Ghana Cocoa Board (Cocobod).

“My minister will never go for that house”, Kennedy Osei Nyarko gave a fiery response to Minority in Parliament which has alleged ¢1 million has been used to renovate the one-storey bungalow at Ridge in Accra.

According to the Minority spokesperson on Finance Cassel Ato Forson, COCOBOD officials confirmed the claim at a sitting of Parliament’s Agric Committee.

“In one of the Committee meetings, they conceded…they said they were doing the renovation for the Minister’s official residence.”he told Joy News Joseph Opoku Gakpo.

Chairman of the Agric Committee in Parliament, Kwame Asafo Agyei, rejected the claim that the renovation cost a million cedis. But he confirmed, “it is a general renovation of Cocobod houses and [the minister] decided to take one of the houses”.

The New Patriotic Party (NPP) legislator for Nsuta-Kwamang-Beposo in the Ashanti region explained that the Board earmarked funds for the renovation of dilapidated properties.

Mr Asafo Agyei in an interview with Joy News’ Parker Wilson, said there is nothing wrong with the minister seeking to live in one of the properties of Cocobod.

The Minority want to summon the minister over the bungalow accusing him of living in comfort after failing to give cocoa farmers a raise in producer price.

But the Deputy minister who is NPP MP for Akim Swedru, Kennedy Nyarko, insisted in an interview on Joy Newsnight Thursday that, there is no evidence of the minister’s request.

“I deal with evidence. I don’t deal with hearsay”, he said explaining that oral requests do not form the basis in public administration for the allocation of bungalows.

“In government, you just use your mouth?”, he dismissed.

The minister, he said, lives in a plush area at East Legon in Accra and does not need the bungalow at Ridge.

“Come to Ridge for what? What is so special about that bungalow?”, he expressed disdain at the claims.