By Morkporkpor Anku
Accra, March 19, GNA – Dr Francis Baah, a former Executive Director of Cocoa Health, and Extension Division CHED of COCOBOD, says during his tenure, a few staff appointments were terminated.
He said these terminations were done because they were taking money from farmers in the performance of their duties.
Dr Baah, who was a subpoena witness for Mr Seidu Agongo, a Businessman, was giving his evidence in a trial, involving Dr Stephen Opuni, a former Chief Executive of COCOBOD, led by Benson Nutsukpui.
Dr Opuni and Mr Seidu Agongo, are facing 27charges, including defrauding by false pretences, wilfully causing financial loss to the State, money laundering, and corruption by a public officer in contravention of the Public Procurement Act.
They have both pleaded not guilty to the charges and are on a GH¢300,000.00 self-recognizance bail each.
He said as the former Executive Director, he had never received any complaint from anyone in the distribution chain that farmers had said lithovit was like water and they have been drinking it.
“My Lord no such information was brought to my knowledge,” he added.
He said all input distributions ought to be documented and not only fertilisers.
The former Executive Director said the distribution of the fertilisers and the other inputs as captured in the document was not the outcome of a review meeting, but the actual quantity that CODAPEC allocated or distributed for 2014/15 crop season.
He said the report being discussed was the outcome of the field visit, and it was part of the monitoring and evaluation team.
“I do not think they went out on a normal field trip to do any particular product a favour,” he said
He said he was not part of the team that went on the field trip, but he would be surprised if the trip was to do lithovit fertilizer a favour.
He said nobody directed him or any member of his team to tour the field and generate any report to favour lithovit fertilizer.
Case adjourned to Wednesday 20, 2024
GNA