‘Nana Akufo Addo, come and get your stone…., Nana Addo, your stone…, your stone, Nana.’ This has been the farmer’s refrain since the new price for cocoa was announced by ‘AnkrAto.’ ‘Take your stone,’ directed at the former President. Gye wo bo.
The expression means ‘you are vindicated, we miss you, your word has come true.’ This salutation often comes with a stone token, held largely by women as a souvenir for a prophecy come true, or a paradise lost. The farthest extreme was this middle-aged woman whose token on social media was an upgrade from stone to boulder; this she carried on her head as a big load to be unloaded. Nana, get your boulder!
Since the new price of cocoa was announced by the finance minister, Nana must have accumulated enough stones to start a stone quarry at his Nima residence.
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For the first time, the price of a kilogram of cocoa was not raised, and not retained either. The poor farmer’s take home from cocoa suffered a cut!
To JDM and Friends, it must have been a shock seeing a groundswell of protests across the country directed at a Farmers ‘friend:’ war songs, taunts, invectives, placards, after a year of ‘Hallelujah, Praise the Lord, Prr sa Prr.’ The hugestorm raised against the paltry cocoa price simply meant: ‘Krakye, the honeymoon is over….’ And it was just as well the sad news did not coincide with a Farmers Day anniversary, or any event which would have required a march past by farmers. National security would have stepped in if they were unsure what aggrieved farmers could possibly mean by the expression: Take your stone! Is it still a thank you, or take to your heels!
Protest scenes across the country drew tears: frail and feeblelooks of farmers converging from long distances, busloads. A few with handy pieces of luggage, arriving to pitch camp at regional centers and Cocobod offices! 80-year-olds in red bands and scarves, singing protest songs with hoarse voices. Many were old enough to have lost front teeth. They started cocoa farming with their parents and grandparents long ago. Their sweat and toil had founded universities, sponsored secondary education, built hospitals and roads…They had helped Ghana to grow its teeth as a new nation state, and expected the nation to give back, propping them as they lost their own teeth. They had promised to wipe the farmer’s tears, and now the tune has changed.
I gave a listening ear to farmers from Agona Asafo in the Central region, as they wailed their plight:
“How can a Government wake up one morning and say the price of cocoa has been cut? To us farmers, this is painful; it is unfair…Are these the same leaders who say they are following the path of Kwame Nkrumah’s Ghana? I have been ill in the past 5 years, and the little cocoa I have is what keeps me alive. Now the price is cut, and they are still delaying our payment…”
“It is the cocoa farm that helped me to take my two children to school. One is at Level 300 in a university; the other is at a nursing training college…how can I continue to pay their fees? I would have managed if it were me alone, but the kids.”
“Our leaders have not been truthful to cocoa farmers. They promised to raise the price to 7,000 cedis, and that led me to vote for them the first time in my life. The story has changed, now that they are in power. What is happening to this country? Do our leaders think of the poor farmer? In December, I nearly died, and my wife was unwell. We had to borrow money to survive. We had sent our cocoa for sale, but they told us there was no money to pay us. Sometimes I wish this area were a Galamsey site. I would have sold my cocoa for galamsey to end the suffering….
The story got more confusing when JM was heard empathizing with the farmers with the words, ‘I am a cocoa farmer myself, owning a 50acre farm.’ Was our beloved President also impoverished by the new policy?
It got even more puzzling when a confused pollster returned from fieldwork with great feedback: ‘a greater percentage of cocoa farmers have welcomed the new price!’ Eyeballs widened! Was this a pollster or a prophet? The phony report could as well have added as a footnote for the President: ‘JM, farmers enjoy being poor; please do more cuts on cocoa price if you want your party to win Election 2028!
JDM was also unfortunate to have appointed a cocoa boss called Randy, who raised eyebrows at his maiden meeting with cocoa farmers. The new kid, clearly a stranger, succeeded in demonstrating he was in Her Majesty’s Service, visiting cocoa colonies. For his first dialogue, Randy opted to take along a brand new executive chair in which he was comfortably seated under cocoa trees, surrounded by curious ‘native’ attendants.
Earlier, while the grand Farmers Day ceremony was taking place in early December, the Big Cocoa Boss further downgraded his new job. He skipped the annual celebration to attend the World Cup Draw taking place in Washington DC.
Elsewhere, Randy would have been asked by Jubilee House to please remain in Washington until January 2029, when JM’s term is over. And this is why I am not optimistic this June, when the Black Stars meet Panama. The Cocoa boss may abandon the farmer again to attend that game, particularly since Panama is also a cocoa-producing country.
Oh Mine! The farmer’s haircut is real; they are indeed orphans sporting ugly haircuts. But it may go beyond this: What if, in asking for a haircut, there was a slip of tongue, and the request ended in a tragedy:
‘Please, barber: we are cocoa farmers from Ghana: we need uhm uhm uhm a head cut!’
Condolences, our farmers, with your Brand New Head Cut!
kyankah@ashesi.edu.gh