The Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), has intimated that the audit report on cocoa roads will be made public after the government has sanctioned it. The statement was in response to former President John Dramani Mahama’s demand, for the publication of the audit report on cocoa roads.
Speaking on Face to Face, the Public Affairs Manager of COCOBOD, Fifii Boafo iterated that the report was not originally meant for public consumption. But, the decision to publish the report or otherwise, depends highly on the government.
Mr. Fifii Boafo opined that, former President John Dramani Mahama was not fit to take charge of the cocoa industry during his tenure as President, and if given another opportunity to take charge of the industry, will be inimical to the industry. Positing that, the present government has proven over the years that, it has been able to manage the cocoa industry better.
According to Fifii Boafo, the Mahama administration was accused of awarding over 230 road contracts to the tune of GH¢3.5 billion, under the cocoa road project to the detriment of COCOBOD’s finances, allocating GH¢1.8 billion.
The Akufo-Addo administration is said to have suspended work on cocoa road projects in 2017 for an audit, following corruption concerns.
Commenting on the purpose of the audit report, Mr. Boafo stated that the report was meant for Ghanaians to be aware of the extent of the problem associated with cocoa roads, iterating that investigations into the roads were not based solely on corruption allegations as speculated, but has helped the board make some corrections in the scope of the road projects.
Further chastening the National Democratic Congress (NDC) led by John Mahama, Mr. Boafo revealed that some roads found in the books of COCOBOD were not visible in the Ministry of Highways, and the department of Feeder roads had road projects that could not be seen in COCOBOD roads.
“So, it was just disorganized. There was a need for you to find a way to put everything together, to know the problem at hand so, that you can better manage it. The saying that, business as usual, just go ahead when they bring certificate, pay. How are you going to pay for that?”
He revealed that the conclusion made on the audit was that, COCOBOD must desist from awarding contracts without allocated funds or with the knowledge of how to make payments for the contracts.
Mr. Boafo further posited that, the suggestions about rescoping the cocoa road project was made at the end of the audit.
However, Member of Parliament for Asuanafo South and the NDC spokesperson, Mr. Eric Opoku refuted claims by Mr. Fifii Boafo that, John Mahama is a threat to the cocoa industry.
According to the Asuanafo South MP, the 1.8 billion allocated after awarding 230 contracts was for a year, hoping that the subsequent years will receive 1.8 billion, until the road projects was exhausted.
“You know, when you award contracts, you do not complete within six months. It is normally one and a half years, two years depending upon how long the road is and the kind of work we intend to do. And so, we have a five-year program and we said every year, we commit resources from the proceeds of the money that we receive from cocoa, to be able to fix all those roads.”
Mr. Eric Opoku opined that Ghana is incurring debts due to the stoppage of the road construction projects and is in the public’s interest to know the content of the audit report.
“For three years, we have stopped the construction of these roads. We have to pay so much interest on delay payment and you think that Ghanaians will not be interested in what is contained in that report? The document is a public document and not a private document that, Fifii alone can show to us and then keep the content to himself.”
