Former National Chairman of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Samuel Ofosu Ampofo is surprised the CEO of Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), Joseph Aidoo Boahen is still in office.
He believes Mr Aidoo has failed in delivering on his mandate and considering the state of the cocoa industry in Ghana under his leadership, President Akufo-Addo should have sacked him for underperforming.
In an interview on Asempa FM Ekosii Sen programme on Wednesday, Mr. Ampofo stated that, the cocoa industry has been a failure.
“This is nothing personal but he has failed and should have been sacked. I don’t know the key performance indicators (KPIs) that he was given or how they are assessed, but it was this government that set up a monitoring and evaluation ministry and they should have effectively monitored what CEOs were doing.
“There are young, hungry and productive individuals who are ready to turn the situation around,” he said.
Mr Ampofo further asserted that, former COCOBOD boss, Dr. Stephen Opuni who is a medical doctor changed the face of the cocoa industry far better than Mr. Aidoo is doing now.
“Dr. Opuni served diligently and worked hard but look at how he is being treated now. I sometimes pity him because I wonder how you can serve your country wholeheartedly and later be treated in this manner,” he lamented.
In April 2024, a civil society organization, United Voices for Change called for Mr. Aidoo’s immediate removal for what they described as incompetence and mismanagement of COCOBOD which has resulted in great losses over the years.
Industry watchers have blamed Boahen Aidoo-led administration of not being prudent in how they borrow from the local banks and the Central Bank at outrageous interest rate, coupled with their failure to implement the appropriate policies to increase cocoa production.
Whilst COCOBOD’s indebtedness under Boahen Aidoo has skyrocketed from less than 200 million cedis in 2017 when he took office to close to 20 billion cedis now, cocoa production has drastically declined under him.
Ghana, which is the world’s second largest cocoa producer, is struggling to meet the demand of clients who COCOBOD forward sold the country cocoa to.
It has been project that COCOBOD would not be able to even produce 550,000 metric tonnes of cocoa beans before the end of the cocoa crop season in September this year.
In a related development, Dr. Stephen Kwabena Opuni has flatly dismissed claims by his successor, Joseph Boahen Aidoo who alleged that COCOBOD was facing significant financial challenges when the latter assumed office in January 2017.
Dr. Opuni has therefore challenged Mr. Boahen Aidoo to publish the audited financial report of COCOBOD by way of documentary evidence that there was no money, to enable the public to ascertain the true state of affairs at COCOBOD at the time.
“It is trite knowledge that before you secure any loan, you need to show your audited financial statement, therefore if Joseph Boahen Aidoo wants Ghanaians to know that he inherited a broke institution, he should make COCOBOD’s audited financial statement for 2016/2017 financial year public to back his claims,” Dr. Stephen Opuni said in an interview with the media on Thursday.
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