The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), has described as a hoax, claims former President John Mahama set up a fund for cocoa farmers’ pension scheme.
According to Joseph Boahen Aidoo, there was no fund created, nor was there any money set aside.
Speaking at a cocoa farmers conference in the Ahafo region on Wednesday, Asunafo South MP, Eric Opoku, indicated Mr Mahama set aside GHS28.9 million as seed money for the Cocoa Farmers’ Pension Scheme, for which the government claims credit.
”The Mahama administration left Ghc28.9 million as seed money for a cocoa farmer pension scheme before leaving office, but the current administration has misappropriated the money and continues to claim to have introduced the scheme,” he told the farmers.
But the COCOBOD CEO on Asempa FM’s Ekosii Sen programme refuted the claims.
“There was no money in the Cocoa Farmers’ Pension Scheme, as the NDC and former President Mahama claim. The amount was only stated in a ledger, but there was no real money.
“How come no farmer was engaged or heard about it? I dare the NDC to come out and tell us which bank they deposited the money to and the name of the fund,” he said.
Mr Aidoo said he finds it difficult to accept the Auditor General’s report on the pension fund, adding if it was anything to go buy, late former President Mills should have been credited for the initiative.
“The Auditor General used a ledger from 2011 so why is the NDC not mentioning Atta-Mills? We didn’t even know there was a ledger until it was discovered when the auditors came. So there was no account,” he added.
Meanwhile, the CEO was optimistic the current administration has already made some gains and will successfully implement the initiative.
“When I came, there was no database of farmers but we instituted the cocoa management system through which 790,000 farmers have been captured.
“Out of this number, 100,000 have been enrolled on the scheme and we hope to get everyone onboard by the end of the year. We also hope to have about GHS74 million cedis in it,” he noted.
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