The Member of Parliament for Akim Swedru, Kennedy Osei Nyarko, has criticised provisions in the newly passed Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) Act, arguing that they infringe on the rights of cocoa farmers by preventing them from deciding how to use their land.

In a Facebook post on Sunday, August 2, the lawmaker claimed the new legislation bars cocoa farmers from converting their farms to any purpose other than cocoa cultivation or rehabilitation, regardless of whether the land is privately owned, family land or stool land.

He warned that anyone who cuts down a cocoa farm for another purpose could face prosecution under the new law.

Mr Osei Nyarko argued that the provision amounts to an unfair restriction on property rights, insisting that cocoa farmers and landowners should retain the freedom to determine how their land is used.

"A cocoa farmer or an owner of a cocoa farmland must have the right to decide on what to use the land for at any given time," he stated.

His comments come days after Parliament passed the Ghana Cocoa Board Bill, 2026, which seeks to reform the governance of the cocoa sector by establishing a new legal framework for regulating, supervising and monitoring activities across the cocoa value chain while introducing a sustainable funding model for the industry.

Although the government has presented the legislation as a key reform to strengthen Ghana's cocoa sector and ensure its long-term sustainability, Mr Osei Nyarko maintains that the land-use restrictions contained in the Act go too far and undermine the rights of cocoa farmers and other landowners.