Russians Blamed in Ghana Cocoa Smuggling While Ghanaians on Border With Côte d'Ivoire Smuggling Cashews & Cocoa

Saturday, 29 June 2024

By: TB Obwoge

I will never for get the words of the young Chadian, "Ghanaians are hypocrites!" When he said this it was like a light bulb went on, he said the one word to sum of the behavior of many in Ghana. Of course it is not all, however you will find it everywhere, in the media, when trying to rent a place to live or the fraud and corruption.

Ghana is filthy with corruption, from the average citizens to the government and all official agencies you have to deal with. Greedy, corrupted, discriminatory Ghanaians will play perfect, then blame everyone else.

Ghana MP Sam George said that Ghanaian political leaders are corrupt because the average Ghanaian is corrurpted. He was not lying and his words went unopposed, most who heard him know he was right. He went onto say that they (the political leaders) had to be the way they were because they were representing Ghanaians. He also admitted to paying his way into his political position.

Sam George is the beloved, homophobic Ghanaian political leader who was behind the newest Anti-LGTBQI bill. He pushed this Ghanaian Family Values Bill, but doesn't speak on the rape culture in Ghana nor the growing incidents of femicide. Because who cares about women and girls, apparently they have nothing to do with Ghanaian familes, its sarcasm but kinda truth.

I'll will outline several cases of Ghanaians blaming everyone but Ghanaians for the issues of crime, corruption and immorality in Ghana. The recent blame game is not focusing on Russians stealing their cocoa.

Ghana has 3 violent conflict areas, where Ghanaians are involved in tribal infighting, this is often left from the news on purpose. Ghana is ranked the 4th most peaceful country in Africa despite these ares, like Bawku where over 220 people were killed between 2019 to 2024.

Ghana's cocoa industry is facing a significant setback, with production in the first quarter of 2024 plummeting compared to the previous year, resulting in a revenue loss exceeding $500 million. Joseph Boahen Aidoo, CEO of Ghana Cocobod, revealed these alarming figures during an interview on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show on June 12.

Aidoo attributed the production shortfall to a combination of bad weather, bean diseases, illegal mining, and smuggling activities involving some Russians collaborating with Ghanaians. He explained that these foreign elements are purchasing cocoa beans from farmers and selling them on the black market, exacerbating the industry's woes.

“There are some Russians in Guinea and Togo who buy cocoa spots without contributing to the farming process. They don’t buy chemicals or fertilizers, so they have nothing to lose. They sell spots at $10,000, undermining our market. It's not the farmers, but nation wreckers who are selling to them,” Aidoo stated.

Despite some arrests and imprisonments, with minimum sentences of five years, the illicit activities persist. Aidoo warned that if these practices are not permanently halted, the cocoa sector could face severe long-term consequences.

In addition to the smuggling and illegal mining, extreme weather conditions have also played a major role in the reduced cocoa production. Aidoo highlighted that adverse weather patterns have significantly impacted the yields this year.

Source Ghana Crimes Instagram Post

Currently, June of 2024 there are dozens of Ghanaians who have come from Accra, Ghana's capital city to work for a months to re-bag cashews.

This is a common phenomenon and it takes plaec every year for many Ghanaians. They temporarly relocate towards the border of Côte d'Ivoire for several months to smuggle in cashews and cocoa. This information comes to the author by way of one of the Ghanaians that is currently working there to feed his family.

Above is a photo of a truck load of cashews coming into Ghana, the truck is unloaded then the cashews are sorted.

Women from the local area help to sort the cashews, the 'bad ones' are thrown to the side, while the good ones are re-bagged in sacks that have Ghana's branding. The issue is the sacks can't show that they're from Côte d'Ivoire.

This same thing happens for the cocoa. Ghanaians with money and in so-called large positions are buying huge truck loads, they're then delivered and placed in the Ghana sacks. From there they are driven into areas of Accra and Tema.

This opperation is not a small meaningless operation, there is a warehouse and sleeping quaters by way of a house. The sacks come from Accra, as well as some of the workers, even though many come from other areas of Ghana.

Within a few months, a Ghanaian can make the average salary for about 2-years. This area near the border has limited access to the internet and making phone calls is also difficult.

Not every Ghanaian working the borders are employed by the same person or people. There are several different groups of mostly male Ghanaians.

On Kamala Harris's last trip to Ghana the United States gave Ghana an astonding $100 million dollars for 'fighting terroism', so far the only fight against terrorism was to take a tour of the borders. Simply put it seems like the $100 million USD was for President Akufo-Addo to not sign the Anti-LGTBQ bill into law.

I've written several article about the xenophobia in Ghana against Nigerians, they're blamed for any and all crime in Ghana. When a Nigerian commits a crime the newspapers make sure to mention their nationality. When Ghanaians see posts about these crimes most come to make the worst comments about Nigeria and Nigerians.

Housing discrimination is common for Ghana as well. Here you can read about that.

Any time there is an issues in Ghana that goes viral, newsoutlets and the government fain outrage. In one incident which was the public beating of 2 Ghanaians in Wa, Ghana.

The 2 were said to have recorded themselves in a sex act and posting it on social media. The government and a section of Ghanaians were "outraged" so they called for the arrest of those who were involved in the beatings. However they left out the fact that the Ghana police and Ghana military were standing right there when the beatings took place.

They simply watched and let it happen, a lot of crime and human rights violations in Ghana take place as everyone watches. There was even the child marriage of a 12-year old to a 63-year old Ghanaian man.

I recently watched a video from a Ghanaian born and raised in the UK, her video was about white western men coming to Ghana to sexually abuse Ghanaian children. Here video gianed thousands of views, however she pretended as if Ghanaians aren't practicing paedophilia.

It is such a common practice that Ghanaians simply turn a blind eye to these acts. Living in Ghana you can't help but see grown men sexualizing young school girls walking home from their schools.

Ghana's rape culture is rampant, some thought that the America #MeToo movement would make a change in Ghana's sexual abuses. It didn't!

Ghanaians are also involved in the smuggling of items from neighboring countries, the media and Ghanaians will continue to claim they're perfect and don't commit crimes. Living in Ghana you'll quickly learn that most, not but must are looking for easy way to make money.

Ghana is the 2nd scamming country in Africa by the way!

Thank you for reading 🙏🏽 Please consider buying a coffee for Lacey’s House efforts in Gender Equality & Children’s Rights as it tries to move international.

©️TB Obwoge 2024 All Rights Reserved