The Minority Caucus in Parliament has formally petitioned President John Dramani Mahama, urging immediate executive action to address what it describes as deepening structural and administrative challenges across Ghana’s energy sector, cocoa industry, environmental governance framework, and national food distribution system.
In a letter dated May 13, 2026, and addressed to the Presidency at Jubilee House, the Minority expressed concern over what it termed worsening governance inefficiencies affecting critical sectors of the economy.
The petition outlined four principal areas of concern, including the resurgence of persistent power outages popularly known as “dumsor,” challenges facing cocoa farmers following reductions in producer prices, alleged administrative and financial irregularities at the Environmental Protection Agency, and disruptions in food distribution systems affecting Senior High Schools across the country.
According to the Minority, recurring electricity interruptions continue to inflict financial losses on businesses and industrial operators, while ongoing gas supply constraints and transmission inefficiencies suggest unresolved structural weaknesses within the energy sector.
The caucus also raised alarm over the recent reduction in cocoa producer prices, arguing that the policy adjustment is placing additional economic pressure on cocoa farming households already grappling with high production costs and declining margins.
It further warned that sustained reductions in producer prices could weaken farmer motivation, encourage cross border smuggling of cocoa, and negatively affect Ghana’s foreign exchange earnings as well as the long term sustainability of the cocoa industry.
On the Environmental Protection Agency, the Minority alleged that more than 3,000 contract workers were recruited prior to the constitution of a governing board and without prior financial clearance from the Ministry of Finance.
It further claimed that subsequent authorisation covered only about 500 of the recruited personnel, raising questions about compliance, institutional accountability, and investor confidence in environmental regulation.
The petition also highlighted concerns within the national food supply chain, citing instances where surplus food stocks at farming communities coexist with shortages in Senior High Schools, describing the situation as evidence of coordination failures in procurement, storage, and distribution systems.
The Minority Caucus therefore urged the President to initiate urgent structural reforms within the energy sector, review the EPA recruitment process, provide targeted relief measures for cocoa farmers affected by price adjustments, and establish a more coordinated national food storage and distribution framework to support school feeding programmes.
It warned that failure to address the issues could have far reaching consequences for energy reliability, agricultural productivity, environmental governance, and national food security.
The letter stressed that ignoring early warning signals would only escalate administrative challenges into costly fiscal burdens on the state and ordinary taxpayers, ultimately undermining national development objectives.
The Minority concluded by calling for urgent executive attention and a more inclusive approach to resolving the concerns raised, emphasising the need to involve affected stakeholders in the reform process.
