Ambassador Daniel Ohene Agyekum has described in no uncertain terms that the Board of Governance which supervised the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) between January 2014 and January 2017 was not made up of a “bunch” of ignoramuses.
According to him, although the Board may not have consisted of experts or scientists, all the members were literates, knowledgeable, and intelligent enough to read, comprehend, and also appreciate expert advice, particularly, on agrochemicals.
He was responding to the accusation made by the seventh prosecution witness (PW7), Detective Chief Inspector Thomas Prempeh Mercer, who is at the Financial Forensics Unit (FFU) at the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) Headquarters of the Ghana Police Service, that the Board, during the period, did not know what they were doing when they approved Lithovit Liquid Fertiliser.
Ambassador Ohene Agyekum, Board Chair at the time and fourth defence witness (DW4) in GH¢271.3 million cocoa trial, told the court, presided over by Justice Clemence Honyenuga, a Supreme Court Justice with additional responsibility of the High Court, yesterday, that Mr. Mercer’s submission passed the accusation into an insult.
The witness, while being cross-examined by Nutifafa Nutsukpi, Counsel for Seidu Agongo and Agricult Ghana Limited, said: “My lord, my immediate reaction would be that piece of evidence is tantamount to insulting the intelligence of the members of the ETC (Entity Tender Committee). We knew what we were about. My lord, with all due respect, we were not a bunch of ignoramuses. Even if we were not experts, we were literate enough; knowledgeable enough and intelligent enough to read and appreciate the distinction between solid material and liquid material. And, in this particular case, technical presentation by the experts from CRIG, we clearly understood both the liquid or granular or solid fertilisers that we approved.”
DW4 also said he found it strange for the court to rule in the submission of no case, that the Board of COCOBOD and the ETC, all of which he chaired, approved Lithovit Liquid Fertiliser that was worthless and that the state received no value for it.
He explained that fertilisers were procured based on the advice of experts from the Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana (CRIG), while the Cocoa Health and Extension Division (CHED) was responsible for educating farmers on the use agrochemicals, as well as and receiving feedback on same.
But, DW4 said from the time he was the Board Chair to date, he had not sighted or come across any CHED report claiming that Lithovit Liquid Fertiliser was defective, or had adverse effects on cocoa farms.
Ambassador Ohene Agyekum averred that the Board was not influenced by Seidu Agongo and his company to approve Lithovit Liquid Fertiliser to be procured and distributed freely to cocoa farmers.
“That is absolutely impossible. I can’t imagine. It is inconceivable that any particular individual can or could influence choice or decision to award a contract in favour of that particular person. It is simply impossible and that it could not happen under my watch during my time,” he emphasised.
The court is trying Dr. Stephen Kwabena Opuni, former Chief Executive of COCOBOD, together with Seidu Agongo and his company on some 27 accounts, including causing financial loss to the state.
The court has adjourned to Wednesday, June 13, 2022.
