The Minority in Parliament is urging President John Mahama not to assent to the newly passed Cocoa Bill until further consultations are held with key stakeholders in the cocoa industry.

Former Deputy Minister for Agriculture and Cocoa Affairs, Yaw Frimpong Addo, says the Minority has identified specific provisions it believes could be problematic for cocoa farmers.

Speaking on Joy News’ PM Express on Monday, the Manso Adubia MP said the Minority was not opposed to the entire bill but wanted the concerns it had raised to be properly considered before the legislation takes effect.

“It’s not everything in the bill that we, the minority, are saying is not good for the farmers. We have listed the key areas where we think are problematic, and that the president should not assent this bill until the until enough consultation is done,” he said.

Mr Frimpong Addo also insisted that the Minority’s input was necessary in the legislative process.

He said concerns arose over the involvement of Parliament’s Agriculture Committee in the consideration of the bill, arguing that its referral came too late.

“It came too late in the day when the referral was made that the Agric committee leadership was to join the finance committee and then the legal affairs committee to look at the bill,” he said.

According to him, the Minority leadership subsequently decided not to participate in the deliberations because it felt the process had failed to properly include it from the beginning.

“So when all this information was not coming, our leadership made sure that no nobody took part in the in the deliberations at all, because in the first place they didn’t see the essence of including the minority in the deliberations from day one,” he said.

Beyond Parliament, Mr Frimpong Addo raised concerns about the level of consultation with other players in the cocoa supply chain.

He specifically mentioned hauliers who transport cocoa from farming communities to the ports.

“You know, we have haulers also in the scheme of things when we talk about the cocoa industry, those who haul the cocoa from the hinterlands to the ports, and these people make those stakeholders, they were not consulted. They were not consulted,” he said.

He argued that the lack of broader consultation created fundamental concerns about the legislation.

“So we think that fundamentally there are problems. There are challenges with the Bill and we need a thorough look at it,” he said.

Mr Frimpong Addo said further consultations should take place before the President assents to the legislation.

“From there, a lot of consultations will have to take place because what they have done is like putting the cart before the horse,” he said.

He also criticised efforts to engage farmers’ groups after Parliament had already passed the bill.

“It came to our notice that they are now going round having meetings with farmers’ groups and all that. After the bill has been passed, that is not normal. That’s not correct,” he said.