The Minority Caucus in Parliament has accused the Chief Executive Officer of Ghana COCOBOD, Joseph Boahen Aidoo for ‘peddling falsehood’ on Ghana’s cocoa forward sales for the 2023/24 crop year which according to him was sold between October 2022 and March 2023 at international prices, ranging between ‘$2,200’ per ton and ‘$2,400’ per ton.
In a statement issued by Honorable Eric Opoku, the Ranking Member for the Food and Agriculture Committee of Parliament on Tuesday, November 21 2023, the Minority in Parliament indicated that records submitted to Parliament by the Ghana COCOBOD as part of processes for the approval of the ‘syndicated loan’ for cocoa purchases for the 2023/24 crop season contradict the Chief Executive Officer’s claims.
According to the Member of Parliament for Asunafo South, the document submitted to Parliament by COCOBOD revealed that only 36.2% of Ghana’s cocoa for the 2023/24 crop season was ‘sold forward’ and used as ‘collateral’ to secure the ‘$800 million syndicated loan’.
“The COCOBOD CEO claimed that consistent with practice, Ghana’s cocoa beans are mostly sold forward, and that the 2023/24 crop was sold between October 2022 and March 2023 at international prices; ranging between $2,200 per ton and $2,400 per ton. The incompetent and dishonest COCOBOD CEO went on to say that, the international price of cocoa then began to increase in April 2023, when a greater percentage of the 2023/24 crop had already been sold.
“It has now emerged that the CEO of COCOBOD told deliberate falsehood in his desperate attempt to justify the rip-off that the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia government has meted out to our hard-working cocoa farmers. Specifically, Paragraph 7.2 of the Joint Memorandum to Parliament by the Minister for Food and Agriculture and the Minister of Finance on the approval of the terms of the $800 million syndicated facility partly reads; ‘The facility does not add to Ghana’s debt stock. The loan is backed by cocoa sales contracts, and the quantity of cocoa collateralized for its repayment is about 36.20% of the anticipated production”.
Eric Opoku, MP Asunafo South
The Ranking Member for the Food and Agriculture Committee of Parliament further explained that 36.2% of the country’s projected cocoa output for the 2023/24 season translates to a ‘paltry’ 307,700 tons.
He noted that such volume of cocoa cannot constitute the ‘greater percentage’ of the country’s projected annual production volume of 850,000 tons as claimed by the Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana COCOBOD in his ‘deceitful’ response to Former President John Dramani Mahama.
Furthermore, the Asunafo South lawmaker chastised the Chief Executive Officer of Ghana COCOBOD, Joseph Bohen Aidoo over his claims again that the ‘greater percentage’ of the country’s cocoa for the 2023/24 crop season was ‘sold forward’ at a price of ‘$2,600’.
According to Mr Eric Opoku COCOBOD’s records disclosed to Parliament revealed that the remaining 63.8% of the country’s 2023/24 cocoa output, which translates to 542,300 tons would be sold on the market at spot prices, ranging between ‘$3,600’ and ‘$4,000’.
Minority Accuses COCOBOD Of Shortchanging Cocoa Farmers
Moreover, the Member of Parliament for Asunafo South Constituency submitted that in instances where COCOBOD succeeds in selling the country’s remaining cocoa output for the 2023/24 crop year at the minimum spot price of ‘$3,600 per ton’ as a ‘worst case scenario’, COCOBOD would shortchange the country’s ‘hard-working’ cocoa farmers to the tune of ‘$542,300,000 which is equivalent to GHC6.5billion.
Mr Eric Opoku also alleged that additional information available to Parliament proves that, Ghana COCOBOD has already sold part of the remaining 63.8% of the country’s cocoa output for the 2023/24 season at spot prices ranging between ‘$3,500’ and ‘$3,770’ per ton from October to mid-November 2023.
He thus asserted that based on the information stated above, Former President John Dramani Mahama was not wrong when he accused President Akufo-Addo and the New Patriotic Party administration of shortchanging the cocoa farmers in the country.
“Former President Mahama was spot on when he said that the insensitive Akufo-Addo/Bawumia government is shortchanging cocoa farmers whose toil and sacrifices continue to sustain the country’s economy. The incompetent and dishonest CEO of COCOBOD in his bid to deceive our hard-working farmers, threw truth and integrity to the dogs and sought to attack the credibility of President Mahama for exposing this grand heist.
Eric Opoku, MP Asunafo South
In addition, the Minority Caucus in Parliament called on the Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana COCOBOD, Joseph Boahen Aidoo to apologize to Former President John Dramani Mahama for his false allegations against the Former President.
“The Minority Group wishes to state for the records, that Joseph Boahen Aidoo has lied to cocoa farmers and the entire nation. He had no basis whatsoever to impugn ill motive into what was a statement of fact by the respected former President”.
Eric Opoku, MP Asunafo South
Mr Eric Opoku concluded by stating that the Minority Group in Parliament in collaboration with the National Democratic Congress Communications Bureau would embark on a series of engagements in the coming days with cocoa farmers across the country on the subject of ‘cocoa producer price’ to explain to the ordinary farmers the level of injustice government and COCOBOD is meting out against them.
READ ALSO: Mahama Aide Describes Decision To Abolish Teachers’ Licensure Exams A Panacea To Quality Education
