The Minority Caucus in Parliament has formally petitioned President John Dramani Mahama, urging him to provide urgent executive intervention to resolve pressing challenges in the energy sector, cocoa pricing, environmental governance, and food distribution systems.
In a letter dated May 13, 2026, addressed to the President at Jubilee House, the caucus expressed deep concern over what it described as deteriorating governance and institutional failures affecting critical sectors of the economy.
The petition focused on four key issues: the resurgence of persistent power outages (commonly known as dumsor), the difficulties faced by cocoa farmers following recent reductions in producer prices, an emerging administrative and financial crisis at the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA), and coordination failures in the distribution of food to Senior High Schools.
The Minority noted that recurring power outages are causing significant financial losses to businesses and industries, while persistent gas supply shortages and transmission challenges highlight deep-seated structural problems in the energy sector.
On cocoa, the caucus raised alarm over the recent cut in producer prices, arguing that the decision is exacerbating the hardship of cocoa-farming households already battling rising input costs and falling incomes. They warned that further reductions could discourage farmers, fuel cross-border smuggling, and threaten Ghana’s foreign exchange earnings and the long-term sustainability of the cocoa industry.
Regarding the EPA, the Minority alleged that over 3,000 contract staff were recruited before a governing board was constituted and without securing financial clearance from the Ministry of Finance. They claimed that subsequent clearance covered only about 500 positions, raising serious questions about regulatory integrity, environmental governance, and investor confidence.
The caucus also pointed to the paradox of food surpluses in farming communities alongside shortages in Senior High Schools as clear evidence of poor coordination in the country’s food distribution system.
The Minority has therefore called on President Mahama to initiate structural reforms in the energy sector, review the controversial EPA recruitment exercise, provide targeted relief for affected cocoa farmers, and establish an efficient food storage, procurement, and distribution framework to support the school feeding programme.
The petition warned that these issues, if left unaddressed, pose serious threats to energy security, environmental protection, agricultural productivity, and national food security.
“Overlooking the warning signs of the issues raised causes major setbacks in our national development. The issues spiral out of administrative control into urgent financial intervention, which derails economic growth,” the caucus stated.
“Let us also bear in mind that the costs to the ordinary citizen and taxpayer when we ignore these issues are usually greater than we know. I therefore seek urgent executive attention to these issues and deliberate efforts to carry along the affected citizens in the resolution of the issues,” the petition appealed.
Editor:
Obiri-Yeboah
