By Aboagye
Lately, there has been chatter in Ghana about our Health Minister, Hon. Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, being mocked for identifying as a farmer. Some see it as an insult, as though farming is beneath a cabinet minister. But let us pause. Is farming really an insult, or is it in fact one of the noblest callings a Ghanaian can embrace?
After all, our nation was built on the back of cocoa farms, yam barns, plantain fields and fishing nets. When Kwame Nkrumah declared that Ghana must be free forever, it was the sweat of farmers that carried the dream forward. Food is survival. Without farming, what happens to Ghana? We cannot chew banknotes and we cannot swallow promises. We eat fufu, kenkey, plantain, cassava and rice, all thanks to the farmer. As one old proverb says, when the farmer rests, the nation fasts.
Look around and see the examples. Former President John Dramani Mahama proudly runs farms. The MP for Guan, Fred Kwesi Agbenyo, is a farmer. The National Chairman of the NDC, Johnson Asiedu Nketiah, is a farmer. Even in the diaspora, the NDC UK & Ireland Youth Organiser, Alfred Freddy Kotogbor, farms. Actor and politician John Dumelo, who contested at Ayawaso West Wuogon, is also a farmer. These are not men who sit in shame. They wear their farming boots with pride because they understand that to farm is to feed a nation. Or as the elders put it, the one who owns a farm never goes hungry, only the lazy do.
In truth, the real shame would be if Ghana, blessed with fertile land, continues to import tomatoes from Burkina Faso and onions from Niger. How can a land kissed by the Volta River and the Black Star depend on foreign lands for food? The farmer is the frontline soldier in this battle for food security. The stomach does not listen to politics; it listens only to food.
Let us also remember, farming is not just about hoes and cutlasses anymore. Today it is agribusiness. It is technology meeting tradition. Greenhouses, irrigation, drones, and artificial intelligence are now part of the farmer’s toolkit. Farming creates jobs, reduces poverty, and sustains families. The farmer feeds the teacher, the doctor, the lawyer, the politician, and yes, even the health minister.
So when people laugh and say the Health Minister is a farmer, they forget that there is no shame in tilling the land. The shame would be in abandoning it. The farmer is not a joke. The farmer is the provider. And if farming is an insult, then we have insulted the very hands that put food on our tables. If you eat today, thank a farmer. If you will eat tomorrow, pray for rain.
Now, the question remains. Is Hon. Kwabena Mintah Akandoh the right person to be our Health Minister? That is for Ghanaians to decide. But one thing is certain. Being a farmer does not disqualify him. If anything, it should remind us that no matter our office, title, or political colour, we all owe our survival to the humble Ghanaian farmer.
By Christian Aboagye, Social Worker in Children’s Services (Safeguarding Team), Mental Health Practitioner, Elected Governor for Greater Manchester Mental Health Services (Social Care Staff), Youth Organiser for NDC Manchester Branch
