Former General Secretary of the General Agricultural Workers’ Union, Edward Kareweh is calling for enhanced border security following the Ghana Cocoa Board’s (COCOBOD) decision to maintain the producer price of cocoa at its current level, despite a recent upward adjustment in neighboring Côte d’Ivoire.
Edward Kareweh observes that the development, while aimed at stabilizing the local cocoa industry, inadvertently increases the appetite and motivation to smuggle cocoa across Ghana’s borders, a threat that requires urgent and robust security intervention.
Although COCOBOD has denied claims that it has no plans to increase cocoa prices, it has yet to adjust its rates following Ivory Coast’s recent price hike—raising concerns about possible smuggling across the western border. In a statement, the regulator explains that it is unable to take a decision on cocoa price because its board is not yet in place.
Mr. Kareweh however says staying prices could be detrimental if security measures at the border are not enhanced to curb smuggling.
In an interview with The High Street Journal, the former General Secretary of GAWU maintained that “the motivation to smuggle will go higher. You may have the motivation to smuggle, but you cannot smuggle if measures are put in place to prevent smuggling at the borders. Even if you have the motivation, you may not be able to smuggle. There will not be the means to do so. When prices are lower in Ghana, that is, producer prices are lower in Ghana, certainly the motivation to smuggle to neighbouring countries like Côte d’Ivoire and so on becomes very high.”
“And when there is a high motivation, then it becomes a big challenge for the security agencies to be able to enforce the smuggling, to enforce the non-smuggling. So it means that much more work has to be done by the security forces in this situation, whereby prices are lower, and then the motivation to smuggle is also high,” he further admonished the authorities.
The logic of Edward Kareweh is straightforward. Côte d’Ivoire’s recent increase in producer prices means Ghanaian cocoa, if smuggled across the border, would fetch significantly higher profits.
Historically, cocoa smuggling has proven to be a major setback to Ghana’s revenue and the sustainability of the cocoa sector. Every bag smuggled out is a dent in the national cocoa output, potentially threatening Ghana’s global market share and foreign exchange inflows.
In light of this, the Karewh is calling on the government and COCOBOD to collaborate closely with national security agencies to beef up patrols along the western corridor and other smuggling-prone zones.
