COCOBOD boss, others mount media trial against Opuni, Agongo ahead of shaky court proceedings

The management of the Ghana Cocoa Board led by Joseph Boahen Aidoo has mounted a spirited media campaign against his predecessor, Dr. Stephen Kwabena Opuni and Agricult Ghana Company Limited boss, Seidu Agongo trying them in both mainstream and social media even before an Accra Fast Track High sits to determine their guilt or otherwise.

The media trial which began immediately the New Patriotic Party (NPP) won power, has been intensified in recent days after the Attorney General and Justice Minister, Gloria Akuffo, leaked document filed at an Accra High Court against the respected bone surgeon on claims of causing financial loss to the state.

Freddie Blay’s Daily Guide newspaper and Kennedy Agyapong’s Oman FM, have provided platforms for NPP communicators to engage in a vitriolic attacks and wild claims against Dr. Opuni and businessman Seidu Agongo, both of whom the Akufo-Addo government, has charged with 27 counts of willfully causing financial loss of GHS217million to the state, through three separate fertilizer supply contracts between 2014 and 2016.

The government had claimed that the contracts; GHC43.1 million (2013/2014 cocoa farming season), GHC75.3 million (2014/2015 cocoa farming season) and GHC98.9 million (2015/2016 cocoa farming season) totaling GHC217 million, were through sole-sourcing, adding that procurement procedures for sole-sourcing were not followed.

But while the court awaits the trial, the government has started a well-orchestrated media trial against Dr. Opuni to make its case believable.

Among the claims of the NPP communicators including the Brong Ahafo Regional Youth Organizer, Abronye DC, are that the management of COCOBOD had carried out an investigation into the procurement of fertilizers by the Dr. Opuni administration.

According to them, some officers of COCOBOD were forced to authorize the procurement of the fertilizers which turned out to be fake and poisonous.

Out of the investigations, some officers NPP communicators claim, had been sacked from COCOBOD, while others have been interdicted.

Interestingly, none of them is on trial with Dr. Opuni and Seidu Agongo, to establish their complicity in the alleged criminally minded procurements.

Curiously, the report of the committee put out in the media is without Dr. Opuni’s response, making it a self-serving document for the management of the COCOBOD.

Again, the report did not also prove that indeed, the so-called faulty fertilizer destroyed Ghana’s cocoa beans and led to a rejection of it on the world market, considering the rigorous quality control measures these beans are subjected to by chocolate manufacturers.



The report also failed to mention the kind of poisonous substance found in the fertilizers. It also failed to mention the consignments and the batch numbers of the fertilizers.

The COCOBOD management also accused Dr. Opuni of forcing some officials of the Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana (CRIG) to fake certificates and documents on the fertilizers to authenticate them.

But the report again, failed to provide a shred of evidence to back the claim that officers were coerced, especially so when in the public service, no superior officer can direct his or her subordinate to embark on any task without a written communication.

The report also failed to provide minutes from the former CEO’s meeting with the officers involved, to buttress the claim that officers, were forced to take bad decisions.

It is also obvious that, though CRIG is under COCOBOD; but it is somehow independent of the mother company. This is why, while testing the fertilizer in 2015-16, it asked Agricult Lithovit to pay for that exercise.

On social media, there have been allegation that several boxes of dollars were found in Dr. Opuni’s house, but further checks show that this is a palpable lie.

The boxes of dollars, have been in circulation for many months now and been linked to many prominent people, including the Clinton family in America and President Joseph Kabila of DR. Congo. It was once also described as looted cash from Nigeria. It is clear the cash is not from Ghana and has nothing to with Dr. Opuni.

Meanwhile, the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) has declared support for the CEO of COCOBOD, calling the publication of the 27 charges in the media as a “populist and prejudicial”.



The party said the style of the government to trial issue in the media when the two gentlemen and their lawyers have not officially been informed was shown how unprofessionalism and condemned it action outright.

“We are aware that the announcement of the commencement of the trial and the publication of the charges were deliberately done to achieve two objectives. The first was to divert attention from the public outrage that greeted three major corruption scandals that broke out last week under the Akufo-Addo government. We refer to the GHC23 million oil corruption scandal at BOST, the GHC28 million used car scandal at MASLOC and the nepotistic award of eleven contracts in a single day to a sister-in-law of the NLA CEO”, the party said.

“The second was to deliberately prejudice the outcome of the trial, demonize Dr. Opuni and prepare the grounds for the public to expect only one outcome after the trial”, the statement signed by General Secretary, Johnson Asiedu Nketia said.

The party said it was convinced the action by the Akufo-Addo government is an effort to justify the “malicious falsehood” told in the past against Dr.Opuni and the NDC.

Mr. Asiedu Nketia reminded the government that the NDC will not allow itself to be bullied but will ensure that due process is followed to ensure their members’ fundamental human right are respected.



“That commitment and support does not extend to malicious trials and politically motivated harassment. We demand fair and lawful treatment for all our members and an immediate end to harassment from the various investigative bodies’ and demanded fairness from the judiciary and hoped that previous hostility to the party will have no bearing play no role in the current trial.

“We also demand fairness in the judicial process and it is our expectation that historical hostility to the NDC, whether real or perceived, will play no role in the determination of all cases and that only the facts of each case, the position of the law and the objective assessment of same will inform any outcome”, the statement concluded.