The former Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) under the erstwhile National Democratic Congress and Mahama’s administration, Dr Stephen Kwabena Opuni has denounced allegations by his predecessor Joseph Boahen Aidoo, that he inherited empty coffers in 2017.
Dr Opuni, who is standing trial for allegations of causing financial loss to the state, in a statement vehemently posited that the assertion by Joseph Boahen Aidoo, the current Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Cocoa Board is untrue and not borne out of fact.
He challenged Mr Joseph Boahen Aidoo to publish the audited financial records of the Ghana Cocoa Board when he assumed office to justify his claims that there was no money in the account of the board.
“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 Kwabena Opuni, former Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Cocoa Board
Furthermore, the former Head of the Food and Drugs Authority disputed Mr Joseph Boahen Aidoo’s claim that the former administration failed to provide finances for the purchase of cocoa for the 2016/17 cocoa season leaving no money for his tenure.
Dr Opuni exposing the falsity of Mr Boahen Aidoo’s claim, asserted that COCOBOD under his tenure secured a 1.8 billion dollar syndicated loan, which was used to take care of COCOBOD’s activities from October 2016 to September 2017 cocoa crop season, part of which Mr Joseph Boahen Aidoo, conceded was used to purchase over 600,000 metric tonnes.
According to Dr Opuni, COCOBOD sold forward a little over 600,000 tonnes of cocoa at a value of 2,993.60 dollars per tonne, which was used as a collateral to secure the 1.8 billion dollar syndicated loan from banks in Europe and other parts of the world.
“Just multiply USD 2,993.60 by the over 600,000 stated by Mr Boahen Aidoo, and you would realize as of January 2017, COCOBOD had already bought enough cocoa from our cocoa farmers to pay off the 1.8 billion dollars syndicated loan COCOBOD secured”.
Dr Stephen Kwabena Opuni, former Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Cocoa Board
Dr Stephen Opuni further emphasized that available records show that, even after buying over 600,000 metric tones between October and December 2016, as mentioned by Boahen Aidoo, as of January 2017, License Buying Companies (LBCs) still had some of the monies COCOBOD had advanced to them, which they were expected to use to buy more cocoa for Ghana Cocoa Board.
Cocoa Syndicated Loans
Moreover, the former Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Cocoa Board, Dr Stephen Kwabena Opuni disclosed that during his tenure as Chief Executive Officer of COCOBOD, from January 2014 to early January 2017, he secured syndicated loans on three occasions for the purchase of cocoa.
The loans, he indicated were secured during the 2014/2015, 2015/2016, 2016/2017 cocoa seasons at the cost of about one and a half per cent for each loan.
He added that there was always the option for the current management of Ghana Cocoa Board led by Mr Joseph Boahen Aidoo to have gone back to the syndicated banks for an additional loan of about 200 million US dollars if he realized that there was more cocoa to be bought.
According to Dr Opuni, it was prudent to take a loan at 1.5% (one and a half per cent) instead of going for a loan from the local banks at 30 per cent or more.
He emphasized that it is therefore, strange and untenable that the current management of COCOBOD under Mr Joseph Boahen Aidoo, instead of taking advantage of the 200 million dollar option from the syndicated loan banks, always resorts to the local banks and the Central Bank.
This he asserted is nothing short of gross financial mismanagement, further asserting that from January 2014 to early January 2017, COCOBOD, under his tenure after taking the syndication loan, never took loans from the Central Bank or any local banks to undertake its activity.
