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.

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.

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 even 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.

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.