NDC grabs Kufuor tractors

It has now emerged that a number of National Democratic Congress (NDC) Members of Parliament (MPs) and government functionaries were allocated brand new tractors which were imported from India by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture under former President John Agyekum Kufuor’s New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration.

By the time the tractors arrived, the NDC had taken over power thus, allocated most of the tractors to government officials and other groups and individuals, mostly in the Northern part of the country.

The identities of the individuals were revealed in an answer to a question posed by the NPP MP for Okere and Minority Chief Whip Dan Kwaku Botwe, detailing all the beneficiaries of over 900 tractors and their addresses.

The Minority Chief Whip had filed the question requesting the Minister of Food and Agriculture, Kofi Humado, to provide details of beneficiaries of 932 tractors and accessories imported from India by the ministry in 2008.

He said he was compelled to ask the question because most farmers in the country in whose name the tractors were procured continued to complain about not having access to tractors for large-scale farming. It was also meant to learn from the Minister whether there was any policy direction to ensure that the tractors were evenly distributed in the country to farmers who needed them on hire purchase.

Some of the beneficiaries were Minister of Information and Media Relations and NDC MP for Bawku, Mahama Ayariga, who was allocated four tractors; Mary Salifu Boforo, NDC MP for Savelugu was allocated three; Alban Bagbin, NDC MP for Kaleo/Nadowli; Alhaji Ibrahim Dey Abubakar, NDC MP for Salaga South; Inusa A.B. Fuseini of Tamale; Mustapha Ahmed, NDC MP for Ayawaso East and Ibrahim Abdul-Rauf Tanko, former NDC MP for Yagaba/Kubori.

The rest were Alhaji Abubakar Sumani, former NDC MP for Tamale North; Simon Akunye, former NDC MP for Pusiga and Johnson Asiedu Nketia of SSNIT Flats, Community 13, Tema.

A number of the tractors also went to district assemblies in the Upper West, Upper East and Northern Regions.
About 16 individuals, who used the address of the assembly member for Diare at Savelugu in the Northern Region, were given one tractor each.

The Minister told the House that the MPs who benefitted from the allocation of the tractors applied to use them for the benefit of their constituents.

He said the selections were based on ability to pay back the cost of the tractor to be allocated after advertisements were placed in the media.

According to him, the district agricultural officers helped to identify needy farmers and people who could set up Agricultural Mechanisation Services Centres (AMSECs) to acquire the tractors and provide services to farmers.

The tractors were expected to be paid for in five years’ time after acquisition. The Minister told the House that so far the recovery rate from those who had benefitted from the package was 60 percent.

A supplementary question by the NDC MP for Adaklu, Kwame Agbodza, to find out from the Minister why just about 13 individuals in the whole of the Volta Region were given tractors was over-ruled by the Speaker, Edward Doe Adjaho, because according to him, he did not want to dwell on how many people from a particular region benefitted from the package.

 By Thomas Fosu Jnr