Former Head of Corporate Affairs at the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), Fiifi Boafo, has accused the leadership of COCOBOD and the Ministry of Finance of willfully neglecting their responsibilities, resulting in the ongoing crisis affecting the sector and cocoa farmers.
Mr. Boafo contends that the management of COCOBOD and the Finance Minister failed to act in the best interests of Ghanaian cocoa farmers, leading to significant financial losses for them.
“When the issues started coming up, all we expected from the government was for it to accept responsibility for not selling cocoa when purchasing power was high, rather than apportioning blame to the previous management without paying attention to the real issues.
The cocoa farmer’s money has been slashed by over Ghc 1,000,” he stated.
In response to the recent salary cuts of 20% for executives and 10% for senior staff, Boafo argued that it is inappropriate for COCOBOD management to reduce cocoa farmers’ payments by 30% while merely imposing a 10% and 20% cut on management salaries.
Speaking on the Kokrokoo Morning Show on Peace FM on Thursday, February 19, Fiifi Boafo commented, “If it were false marshal, we could have appreciated the fact that we did not foresee such havoc being inflicted on the cocoa sector regarding pricing on the world market, but this is a deliberate dereliction of duty on the part of the COCOBOD management and the Ministry of Finance.”
He further emphasised, “You cannot exonerate the Finance Minister because he is the Chairman of the Producer Price Review Committee, which determines the selling price of cocoa during the purchasing window,” explaining why Finance Minister Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson cannot be exempt from the crisis plaguing the cocoa sector.
