Board Chair Vows Accountability.
Former officials of the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) who presided over the institution’s near-total collapse are not off the hook.
This is according to the current board chairman, Samuel Ofosu Ampofo, who confirmed that the previous administration is being held accountable for their actions at various investigative bodies.
The revelation comes amid fierce criticism from the Minority in Parliament over the newly announced cocoa producer price, which they have labeled a “stab in the back” to hardworking farmers.
Speaking on the matter, Ofosu Ampofo stated that while the process is not being broadcast publicly, officials are being summoned by the National Intelligence Bureau (NIB) and National Security to answer for their actions.
“We are engaged in a number of forensic audits… NIB, National Security are looking into the issue because there are questions to be answered,” he said, adding that “at the appropriate time, when the processes are over, those found to have messed up COCOBOD will be made known and charged in court.”
Ofosu Ampofo, the former National Democratic Congress (NDC) chairman, did not shy away from blaming the previous government for COCOBOD’s dire financial situation. He revealed that the current administration inherited a staggering GH₵33 billion debt, of which GH₵21 billion was attributed to “cocoa roads.”
“When the NDC was leaving power in 2016, we were almost at one million tons of cocoa production,” he explained. “The NPP came and reduced it to 450,000 metric tons. That is how we met the cocoa industry.”
He further detailed how the previous administration took an advance loan, promising to deliver 330,000 metric tons of cocoa at a discounted price of $2,600 per ton, a promise they failed to keep.
This “bad governance,” he claims, is why the current administration has been forced to pay off this debt by selling cocoa at the low price of $2,600 per ton, even though the world market price has soared to over $9,000.
“The debt was left in the books,” Ofosu Ampofo lamented. “So if we are not paying the amount the cocoa farmers are supposed to get, it is as a result of NPP bad governance and the bad management of the cocoa industry.”
Meanwhile, the Minority in Parliament held a press conference to denounce the new cocoa producer price, which has been pegged at GH₵3,228.75 per 64kg bag. This new price, a 62.58% increase from the previous one, was approved by the Producer Price Review Committee.
Dr. Isaac Yaw Opoku, the Ranking Member on Parliament’s Food and Agriculture Committee, described the new price as “ridiculous, unfair, and completely unacceptable.”
“This is complete ‘sakawa’ and unacceptable,” he declared.
The caucus warned that this poor remuneration could force cocoa farmers to abandon their farms and lease them to illegal miners, thereby worsening the country’s galamsey crisis.
Ofosu Ampofo acknowledged the farmers’ plight but defended the new price, calling the increase “unprecedented.” He promised that when the challenges facing the sector are curtailed, the farmers will be given what is rightfully theirs.
By Gifty Boateng