Minister of Food and Agriculture, Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto believes he has performed creditably well at the Ministry.
In a post on social media, Dr. Afriyie Akoto said despite false reportage by a section of the media seeking to dent his image and discredit the good works he has been doing at the ministry, he remains resolute and focused on diligently delivering on the mandate entrusted to him by the president.
The minister said this in reaction to a letter by Media General; operators of TV3 agreeing to retract and apologize to him over a publication which he deemed false and defamatory.
In the said publication, Dr. Afriyie Akoto is quoted as saying “In the North, some of these smugglers load fertilizer on donkeys. These animals are able to enter Burkina Faso unaided, to deliver the fertilizer. I was there; I saw some of these things but I can’t question the donkey”.
But the minister denied ever making such comments and wrote through his lawyers to TV3 demanding a retraction and an apology.
The media outlet has since admitted to erroneously attributing the quote to the minister and has accordingly, rendered an apology to him.
While commending TV3 for its admission, the minister stated that he will not be distracted by false media reportage.
“A good media house is one that admits its mistakes and corrects its errors. Though the false information published by TV3 GHANA, has misled many and sought to cause a dent on my image and the good work we are doing at the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, I remain resolute and focused on ensuring we continue to do our best for the country’s Food and Agriculture industry,” he stated.
The competence of the minister has been questioned after he revealed that government is struggling to sustain its flagship agricultural program, Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ) which implementation is being led by him.
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and the minister, in the run up to the 2020 elections, touted their achievement in the agricultural sector, claiming that Ghana had become food sufficient and was exporting food commodities to neighboring countries.
But few months after the elections, there are fears of shortage of food in the country as prices of food stuffs rose significantly due to low yields recorded by farmers in the last farming season.
