'Spoilt' COCOBOD staff want me out – Hackman

The Board Chairman of Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), Hackman Owusu-Agyeman, has said the call by some staff of the company to get him removed, is borne out of his transformational agenda at the state-owned cocoa firm, which, according to him, has won him enemies.

The workers calling for his dismissal, he said, have been “spoilt” over the years, thus, their opposition to his era of change.

During the May Day celebrations in Kumasi, a section of Cocobod workers accused Mr Owusu-Agyeman of usurping the authority of the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Joseph Boahen Aidoo, and called on President Nana Akufo-Addo to remove him.

The workers also said apart from stepping beyond his authority, Mr Owusu-Agyeman does not listen to their concerns and does not have their interest at heart.

Reacting to this development on Accra-based Citi FM, Mr Owusu-Agyeman said: “This is part of an entrenched mindset of the people who have worked with COCOBOD and I think COCOBOD is in crisis.

“There is a debt overhung of GHS1.9billion and normally when a business goes into such level of crisis, it either folds up or cuts the number of staff dramatically so that it can survive… But we are not cutting off anybody.

“We are trying to ask them to be more efficient because they have been spoilt over the years.

“These COCOBOD officers believe the world belongs to them. I believe sincerely the farmers who toil and sweat, if there is any benefit, must come to them.”