Why I would have arrested the Agric. Minister if I were the president – Captain Smart
Captain Smart has said the Minister of Food and Agriculture, Dr. Akoto Owusu Afriyie should have been outrightly arrested for a statement he made about his sector.
With the government’s Planting for Food and Jobs programme being resuscitated at the Intensive Care Unit as evidenced by skyrocketed food inflation, following government’s failure to pay suppliers of agricultural inputs, the country has resorted to importation of maize, which the minister says would end in 2024.
But reacting to the minister’s statement, Captain Smart believes the comment is a lazy man’s thinking considering the fact that Ghana is an agrarian economy and how maize does well on Ghana’s soil.
His reaction comes on the back of recent uprisings on the African sub region, which many believe is as a result of famine.
With three coups already staged in a space of a year and other places sensing danger, Mr. Smart asserts the minister could have spelt out a better alternative in ameliorating the shortage rather than waiting till 2024.
There have been much agitations in Nigeria, Gabon, Algeria, Ivory Coast and Togo, due to hunger and poverty confronting the people.
In his view therefore, something should be done as soon as possible as long as Ghana’s soil is very fertile.
“A whole Agric. Minister tells us it is 2024 that we’ll stop importing maize. If I was the president, I would have arrested and locked him instantly. That’s the most useless statement to be made by a minister,” he stated Friday, September 10, 2021 on Onua FM/TV’s morning show, ‘Maakye’.
Speaking further, he asked authorities at the Agric. Ministry to credit Ghanaians wisdom with some of the utterances they make.
He was particularly, referring to the bags of fertilisers which according to an officer at the ministry was being transported by camels to Burkina Faso.
“…And a whole officer at the Agric. ministry comes to tell us camels are stealing fertilisers to Burkina Faso. Please credit us with a little wisdom when you make some statements,” he fumed.
