The Majority Leader in Parliament, Mahama Ayariga, has launched a fierce counter-offensive against the wave of cocoa-related demonstrations sweeping the Western North Region, dismissing them as calculated political theatre rather than a grassroots uprising.
Addressing a heated parliamentary session on Friday, 20th February 2026, Mr Ayariga insisted that the protests in Sefwi Wiawso, Juaboso, and Bia West do not represent the heart of the cocoa-growing community.
Instead, he argued that the placards attacking President John Dramani Mahama are being wielded by partisans masquerading as aggrieved farmers.
The backlash follows the government’s recent decision to slash cocoa producer prices from GH¢3,625 to GH¢2,587 per bag, a move the administration calls an “economic necessity” but which farmers brand as a “death sentence.”
In Bia West and Juaboso, demonstrators clogged principal streets, warning that the 28% price drop, combined with soaring labour and fertiliser costs, would force many to abandon their farms.
Mr Ayariga, however, was unmoved by the optics of the marches, telling the Minority in Parliament that the real drivers of the unrest were hidden in the shadows of “cocoa politics”.
“Just because you think that cocoa politics is what can help your party, I can assure you that the demonstrators… we know their real motivation,” he told the House.
At the core of the Majority Leader’s argument is the claim that the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) is currently gasping for air under the weight of liabilities inherited from the previous New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration. He suggested that the current government is being forced to clean up a “financial wreckage” while facing a global market downturn.
Mr Ayariga contended that the farmers—the actual tillers of the soil—possess a sophisticated understanding of the global cocoa crisis and the resulting financial strain on the nation.
“You cannot give what you don’t have, even if you promised it. The practical problem is there. The farmer appreciates it, and I can assure you that the farmer appreciates the solution proposed by government,” he asserted.
The government maintains that the revised pricing is the only way to save COCOBOD from total collapse. With international prices dropping from historic highs and a 50,000-tonne backlog at the ports, the administration argues that maintaining the old price was a mathematical impossibility.
Despite Mr Ayariga’s confidence, the tension in the Western North remains high. While the Majority Leader claims the “farmer appreciates the solution”, the boots on the ground in Sefwi Wiawso suggest a deep disconnect between parliamentary rhetoric and the reality of the rural economy.
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