The CEO of the Ghana Commodity Exchange (GCX), Eveleyn Abakah has now joined Dr Mark Darko, CEO of the Ghana Chamber of Cannabis Commerce in deciding not to come to South Africa for next week’s ICS 2026 conference. The two were due to take part in the major international conference, one of the aims of which, was to strengthen relationships between key African cannabis stakeholders.
Jakarta-based Hocking told Cannabiz Africa on 17 June 2026, during a stopover in Addis Ababa en route to Cape Town, that he was aware of the tensions around illegal migrants in the country. He said this was an alarming problem across the world and not particular to South Africa.
“I express sympathy with our Ghanaian speakers Dr Mark Darko and Eveleyn Abakah who have been unable to make the event due to advice from their government”.
He said no other African speakers have cancelled their visit to Cape Town
He said the aim of the policy conference, Back to Basics, is to create new channels of communication between policy-influencers seeking a more ‘people-centred’ approach to international cannabis regulations.
“I hope that the conference will go some way to strengthening pan-African channels of communication and understanding amongst the continents cannabis community and industry” he said.
Dr Darko told Cannabiz Africa earlier this week that despite the setback he was keen to engage with the South African cannabis industry, particularly in developing a ‘best-practice’ for African cannabis.
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