COCOBOD's CODAPEC/Hi-TECH Unit advises on fertiliser purchases not CEO - RM&E Director informs court

Dr Francis Baah, the Director of Research, Monitoring, and Evaluation at COCOBOD, has categorically stated that the Chief Executive of COCOBOD does not recommend purchasing fertilisers, including the type and quantities, for any cocoa season.

He said it is the sole prerogative of the CODAPEC/HITECH programme to determine and recommend to COCOBOD the quantities and types of fertilisers and agrochemicals to purchase.

Dr Baah, who once worked at the office of the Chief Executive of COCOBOD as the Office Manager, was giving evidence on Thursday, April 18, in the trial of former COCOBOD Chief Executive Dr Stephen Opuni and businessman Seidu Agongo, as well as Agricult Ghana Limited, who are facing 27 charges, including defrauding by false pretences, willfully causing financial loss to the state, corruption by public officers, and contravention of the Public Procurement Act.

Under cross-examination by counsel for Dr Opuni, Dr Baah told an Accra High Court that the Chief Executive of COCOBOD plays no role in determining the type and quantities of fertiliser or agrochemicals that COCOBOD should purchase for use under the CODAPEC/HITECH programme.

"And you can confirm that during your term at CHED, namely from 2014, 2015, and 2016, the first accused (Dr Opuni ) did not determine the type and or quantities of fertilisers which were purchased by COCOBOD during these periods?" Lawyer Samuel Codjoe asked the witness.

Dr Baah responded, "My Lord, I agree with counsel, and I want to add that the fertilisers, agrochemicals, and machines used are part of the work of CODAPEC/HITECH, which was headed by a director. They will make the recommendation."

He also maintained that even the Executive Director of Cocoa Health and Extension Division (CHED) of COCOBOD, a division he once headed and to whom the CODAPEC/HITECH manager reports, cannot make any recommendations to the management of COCOBOD to purchase any fertiliser or agrochemicals without first emanating from CODAPEC/HITECH.

The Director of Research, Monitoring, and Evaluation added that the status quo persisted when the CODAPEC/HITECH programme reported directly to the Deputy Chief Executive of COCOBOD in charge of Agronomy and Quality Control.

As a former Executive Director of CHED, Dr Baah mentioned that the recommendations of CODAPEC/HITECH for the purchase of agrochemicals and fertilisers channelled through CHED are then forwarded to the Deputy Chief Executive A and QC, who would then send it to top management for approval.

"And in fact, when your directorate (CHED) receives such recommendations for COCOBOD to purchase these agrochemicals and fertilisers, you then forward these recommendations to management through Deputy Chief Executive A and QC," counsel pointed out to the witness.

"My Lord, that is correct. Anything from CODAPEC/HITECH at CHED will end at the office of the Deputy Chief Executive A and QC," the witness confirmed to the court.

His evidence appears to douse the prosecution's fanned fire that Dr Opuni handpicked lithovit liquid fertiliser and hoodwinked COCOBOD to purchase it.

Seventh prosecution witness, Chief Inspector Thomas Prempeh Mercer, for instance, alleged in his evidence in chief that apart from Dr Opuni, even the board of COCOBOD that approved the purchase of Lithovit liquid fertiliser didn't know the type of fertiliser they were dealing with.

"My lord, respectively, I beg to state that the Board Chairman then did not know that the products were untested by CRIG, hence their approvals," Mr. Prempeh Mercer said in March 2021, "Same applied to the Entity Tender Committee (ETC), they did not know the product they approved was not tested by the Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana (CRIG)."

He, however, admitted under cross-examination that he never spoke to any board member before arriving at that conclusion, except the statement given to EOCO by the then-board chairman, which did not even support his claim.

Meanwhile, Ambassador Daniel Ohene Agyekum, the board chairman of COCOBOD, under whose tenure Lithovit was bought and who once headed its entity tender committee, said Chief Insp. Prempeh's evidence on the ETC and board "is tantamount to insulting the intelligence of the members of the ETC. We knew what we were about."

He told the court in 2022 that, "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 or appreciate the distinction between solid material and liquid. And in this particular case, the technical presentation by the experts from CRIG, we clearly understood both the liquid and solid fertilisers that we approved."

He further told the court, "As the board chairman, I can state on authority that the fertiliser which was purchased from Agricult went through the proper procedure as it pertains during my term."

In a related development, COCOBOD's Director of Research, Monitoring, and Evaluation, Dr. Francis Baah, mounted a strong defence for describing lithovit as a liquid fertiliser.

"Exhibit 3 is an investigative statement of PW1 Franklin Manu Amoah; on the last page of this statement, on page 3, Dr Franklin Manu Amoah stated that you affirmed to the transitional team that Lithovit as a liquid fertiliser induces flowery and, which in turn could result in increase in yields. That is the case, is it?" The witness was asked.

"Yes, my Lord," Dr Baah insisted.

He noted that when he made this statement, Dr. Amoah did not challenge the fact that Lithovit was a liquid fertiliser.

He was further told, "None of the members of the transitional team on cocoa, whose chairman, Dr Adu-Ampomah [PW3], challenged and or disputed this statement that it's liquid?"

"I don't recall being challenged," he stressed.

"In fact, if you were challenged on this statement, you would have recalled it," lawyer Codjoe pushed him further, to which he replied, "My Lord, that is correct."

"I'm further putting it to you: if Dr Franklin Manu Amoah did not know the truism of your statement, namely lithovit is a liquid fertiliser, he would have challenged you at that point," the counsel said.

"My Lord, that would be a fair proposition," the witness maintained.

"In fact, at the transitional team, none of the persons from COCOBOD who appeared before this team ever questioned the efficacy of Lithovit liquid fertiliser on matured cocoa," he was asked.

"Yes, my Lord, I don't think there was any challenge," he responded.

Counsel also asked, "Dr Amoah, PW1, did not challenge your statement of the efficacy of Lithovit that it induces flowery and could result in yield?"

The witness stated, "Yes, my Lord, there was no challenge, and I was not questioned extensively on it. If I may add, this statement attributed to me, I made it on the basis of the field report from CHED, which I headed at the time."

"You see, in your statement to the police and EOCO, you were very empathetic that the first accused did not influence you and or influence your work during his tenure as chief executive, that is so," lawyer Codjoe inquired.

"Yes, my Lord, as it pertains to influencing me to do what I'm not supposed to do, that is correct," Dr Francis Baah asserted.