The Minister of finance and economic planning, Dr. Kwabena Duffuor is to investigate alleged dismissal of some cocoa spraying gangs in the country and report to parliament. The minister gave the assurance when he answered a question by the MP for Asunafo North, Hon. Robert Sarfo-Mensah in Parliament today.
The MP wanted to know the status of the existing spraying gangs of the Cocoa Diseases and Pest Control (CODAPEG) programme. According to the minister, the status of the existing spraying gangs of CODAPEG, otherwise known as �mass-spraying� remains unchanged. He said CODAPEG had 5,893 spraying gangs in all the 72 districts benefiting from the programme as at December 2008. However the number increased to 5993 this year when 100 more gangs were created. Dr. Kwabena Duffuor said district tax forces charged with oversight responsibility of the spraying programme review the performance of each gang for the previous year and appropriate disciplinary action such as dismissal are applied against misconduct such as stealing of chemicals, misuse of spraying machines, collection of money from farmers for work done, absenteeism and vacation of posts.
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