Bartels Retracts Statement On Ministers And PSI

The Ministry for Private Sector Development and Presidential Special Initiatives (PSIs) says there will be no special programme for ministers and Members of Parliament to go into the cultivation of cassava and oil palm under the PSI, as earlier announced.

A statement issued in Accra at the weekend and signed by the minister, Kwamena Bartels, said the ministry “wishes to retract the announcement made at the recently held meet-the-press, that the Government has decided to support ministers, deputy ministers and Members of Parliament to go into the cultivation of cassava and oil palm under the PSI.”

No reasons were given for the retraction but the statement stressed that “for the avoidance of doubt, there will be no special programme for MPs and ministers.”

It said the ministry would continue to support and promote individual farmers in the cultivation of cassava and oil palm under the PSI as has been done over the last three years.

Mr Bartels announced last Tuesday, September 20, that the Government had decided to allocate part of land banks for oil palm and cassava cultivation under the PSI.