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Ambassador Daniel Ohene Agyekum, who chaired the board of COCOBOD and its Entity Tender Committee, has emphatically stated that Dr. Stephen Opuni always acted in accordance with COCOBOD’s policies.
The retired diplomat therefore told the High Court on Friday, June 10 that the former COCOBOD Chief Executive did not perpetuate any fraud when COCOBOD purchased Lithovit liquid fertiliser between 2014 and 2016.
The forth prosecution witness was giving testimony under cross-examination led by counsel for businessman Seidu Agongo and Agricult Ghana Ltd, lawyer Nutifafa Nutsukpui who was holding brief for Benson Nutsukpui.
“Where is all these coming from?” This was the immediate reaction of Amb. Ohene Agyekum when he was informed that the trial judge, Justice Clemence Honyenuga had in his ruling on submission of no case said Dr. Opuni assisted Seidu Agongo and his company to perpetuate fraud against COCOBOD.
“The first accused during my tenure in office, did not, certainly not, pertuated any fraud. As the chief executive of management of COCOBOD and with my little knowledge of corporate responsibility, the chief executive, whatever he did was consistent with the policies of the board,” the witness pointed out to the court.
The witness was also asked, based on his experience in chairing the board and the ETC, “how easy was it for an individual to game or otherwise rig the procurement process for a particular fertiliser?”
He replied, “my Lord that is absolutely impossible. My lord I cannot imagine; it is inconceivable that any particular individual can or could rig or influence the choice or decision to award a contract in favour of a particular person. It is simply impossible and it could not happen under my watch or during my tenure as chairman.”
Amb. Ohene Agyekum was further asked if the first accused ever influenced the procurement process to benefit the second and third accused persons.
His response was that “as far as I am aware, the first accused never acted in a way that could have influenced the decision of either the board or the Entity Tender Committee. And in my dual capacity as chairman for both the board and the ETC, such a thing never happened.”
SCIENTIFIC TEST IN CLASSROOM
The attention of the witness was drawn to claims by Dr. Emmanuel Yaw Osei-Twum of the Chemistry Department of the University of Ghana that when they tested litovit liquid fertiliser they barely had properties that will make it effective.
He was therefore asked, “During your tenure as chairman, were you aware of any test carried out on litovit liquid fertiliser that came to similar conclusion?”
He replied, “my Lord, my short answer is no. I was not made aware of any such scientific report.
“If you conduct a scientific test in the classroom and you draw the conclusion such as was drawn by the university, then I will state that it was not certainly the same litovit liquid fertiliser that the board had purchased and provided to the farmers free of charge.”
Nutifafa Nutsukpui then followed with another question, “and sir since you left office, have you become aware of any test carried out that cast any doubt on the efficacy of the litovit fertiliser that your board had procured for the cocoa farmers?”
Amb. Ohene Agyekum reiterated, “Again my sure answer is no, never.”
FERTILISERS BOUGHT
At the previous sitting, the witness told the court that letters dated 11th February 2014, marked as Exhibit L, and 13th February 2014 marked Exhibit M to Cabinet and Finance Minister respectively, though was signed by Dr. Opuni he didn’t write those letters himself but the procurement unit of COCOBOD.
In the last sitting, Amb. Ohene Agyekum confirmed that those letters also captured other fertilisers that COCOBOD bought in addition to Lithovit liquid fertiliser.
Q: when you turn to the second pages of exhibit L and M, you will see the table with the following fertiliser types listed. Asaase wura, Cocoa Master, Cocofeed, Sidalco 10:10:10, sidalco 60:20 and lithovit. Is that correct sir?
Ans : my Lord with what I read here, it’s absolutely correct.
Q: Now, exhibit N is a letter from COCOBOD to seek approval to sole source the fertilisers listed on page 2 of exhibit N.
Ans : that is so my lord
Q: Now look at exhibit V been shown to you now. It is a letter from PPA to Ghana COCOBOD dated 15th March 2014 granting approval for the procurement of the various fertiliser types: Asaase wura, Cocoa Master, Cocofeed, Sidalco 10:10:10, sidalco 60:20 and lithovit.
Ans : That is so my Lord and it is in accordance with the procedures at the time.
Q: Now, the fertiliser types contained in Exhibit L , M and V were selected by the experts from CODAPEC HITECH units. That is correct.
Ans : yes my lord. As I explained in my evidence in chief, it is the CODAPEC and HITECH in accordance with the procedures that determine the quantities and type of fertiliser for every cocoa season.
Q: Now sir, at the ETC’s 54th meeting held at the boardroom of Cocoa House, Asaase wura, Cocoa Master, Cocofeed, Sidalco 10:10:10, Sidalco 60:20 and Lithovit were approved by the ETC for the cocoa CODAPEC and HITECH 2013/2014 season.
Ans : yes my lord, as far as I can recollect.
Q: Sir, these fertiliser types which were approved by the ETC for the 2013/2014 were in no way determined by the suppliers of the fertiliser.
Ans : it is absolutely true. It was no way determined by any of the suppliers.
Q: again by the policy of the board you chaired, all the fertilisers you bought for the CODAPEC/ HITECH programme were distributed to the farmers for free. That is correct.
Ans : my Lord that is correct. If I may go further, the decision to supply fertilisers free of charge was for a very good reason. And that as a cocoa farmer’s son who have lived with difficulties and challenges faced by the cocoa farmer, together with my board members, we believe that providing these items as well as constructing accessible roads within the cocoa growing areas was the correct thing to do
Q: Now sir to your recollection, in all the meetings of the ETC ,all the members were aware of the goods and services they were granting COCOBOD approval to procure.
Ans : yes my lord
The former Chief Executive of COCOBOD, Dr. Stephen Opuni, businessman Seidu Agongo and Agricult Ghana Ltd were charged with 27 counts including causing financial loss to the state and breach of the procurement act in the purchase of Lithovit liquid fertilizer between 2014 and 2016.
