A Traditional Chief has cautioned Cocoa Marketing Clerks (M/Cs) to desist from adjusting their weighing scales to cheat farmers.

Nana Obutu Frimpong, Chairman of Adikrofo (sub-chiefs) in the Asamankese Traditional Area, cautioned the clerks when interacting with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) at Asamankese in the West Akim Municipality of the Eastern Region.

Nana Obutu warned that any clerk caught cheating cocoa farmers by adjusting the scales would be sent to the Ghana Standard Authority (GSA), to face the full rigours of the law.

Nana Obutu, also the chief of Essaso, was reacting to complaints received from some chief farmers in the area, that it had been the practice of some of the clerks to manipulate their weighing scales to cheat farmers.

According to the chief; “it is a criminal offence to tamper with weighing scales with the intent to cheat cocoa farmers”.

Nana Obutu said some cocoa farmers weighed their cocoa beans in their homes before selling their commodities to the various societies (sheds), so they are able to detect the disparities in the respective scales.