By Iddi Yire
Accra, Aug 31, GNA – The National Democratic Congress (NDC) Minority Caucus in Parliament has condemned the decision by the Government to deploy the military to border towns across the country to enforce the ban on the exportation of grain from the country.
It said the deployment of the military to ostensibly perform the task of the enforcement of a ban on the exportation of grain raises questions and suspicions as neither the Minister for Food and Agriculture nor the Defence Minister adduced any evidence to establish the inability of our immigration and customs services to enforce the prohibition in question to warrant the military’s involvement.
A press statement by the Minority available to the Ghana News Agency (GNA), in Accra, said the Immigration Service was statutorily empowered to manage and patrol the country’s borders as a first line of defense and the Customs Service, on the other hand, complements the Immigration Service in exercise its preventive functions along the nation’s borders.
Thus, any attempt to deploy the military when there was no evidence to show that the Immigration and Customs services would be overwhelmed in the enforcement of the ban on the exportation of grain heightens suspicions.
The Minor urged the Government to be mindful of the cost of military deployment along the borders because it could be more than the value of grains they wish to protect within the country.
The Minority recalled that in the run-up to the 2020 presidential and parliamentary elections, the Akufo-Addo/ Bawumia Government heavily deployed the country’s military, particularly in the Volta and Oti regions, as part of a carefully orchestrated strategy that scared eligible voters from exercising their franchise.
It said the pretext for the massive deployment was the alleged secessionist threat posed by what has now been established as phantom groups. Interestingly, once the elections were over, the secessionist threat suddenly evaporated; adding that subsequently, the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia Government ordered the military to return to the barracks.
“Such is the political chicanery of the government we are dealing with, so Ghanaians have reason to take the recent announcement with a pinch of salt.”
The statement said Mr. Byan Acheampong, the Minister of Food and Agriculture, who made the border closure announcement, was the very person who had declared repeatedly to do everything to wreck the chances of the NDC to win the December 7, 2024, election.
The statement said Mr. Acheampong lacks the moral uprightness and credibility required in the situation and urged development partners wishing to support Ghana to join her in insisting on a credible task force.
Accusing the Government and its henchmen they would line their pockets while Ghanaians go hungry, the Minority cautioned the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia-led Government to desist from deploying the nation’s revered military in a manner that was not consistent with its mandate.
Rather, it should use the institution as a force to subvert the democratic right of Ghanaians to vote devoid of an atmosphere of fear and intimidation.
It said the concern of the Minority goes beyond the suspicious military deployment along the country’s borders; stating that in the 2020 election year, this same Akufo-Addo/Bawumia Government used the COVID-19 funding to further their political schemes.
Alleging that “they ended up siphoning millions of cedis into the pockets of NPP apparatchiks and enrichment of family and friends,” the Minority assured that it would support genuine efforts to alleviate the reported food crisis.
The food crisis, the statement said, had badly exposed the government’s Planting for Food and One District One Dam programs as abject failures.
The Minority insisted on clear guidelines and strict accountability in using emergency funding that may be approved to tackle the reported emergency.
The Minority also expressed concern about the reported lack of consultation with neighboring countries before the ban.
“Recently, when neighboring Nigeria became saddled with drought-induced crop failures that could create food shortages similar to Ghana’s situation, that country’s President, Tinubu, tasked the Nigeria Customs Service and not the military to curtail food exports,” the release said.
The Minority noted that at this time, they expect the Government to engage stakeholders and consult broadly; declaring that “whatever it is, the government should leave the military out of its political games.”
GNA