Rejoinder: Auditor-General’s report on expired chemicals, fertilizers at COCOBOD

The Auditor-General, in his report on the Public Accounts of Ghana: Public Boards, Corporations and other Statutory Institutions for the period ended December 31, 2020, indicated that expired fertilizers and agrochemicals valued at Ghc23.9 million had been written off from the books of the Ghana Cocoa Board

COCOBOD by the Board of Directors in 2018 without parliamentary approval.
The report has since been re-published by various media houses and online portals as well as social and political commentators across the country. We wish to update Ghanaians, especially our cherished cocoa farmers and other stakeholders with the facts behind the said report.

COCOBOD procures fertilizers and agrochemicals for distribution to cocoa farmers across the cocoa regions. Usually, these agrochemicals and fertilizers procured are distributed and applied the same year.

When the current management took over administration in 2017, it was surprising to find out that there were significant volumes of chemicals and fertilizers in stock. It, therefore, caused an audit to be conducted on the items which revealed that some fertilizers and agrochemicals valued at Ghc23,957, 520.65 had expired.

Management subsequently sought approval from the Board of Directors to write off the value of the expired agro-inputs from the books of COCOBOD, an approval which was duly granted.

Management is working with the Board of Directors for onward submission to Parliament for retrospective approval of the write-off through the Ministry of Food and Agriculture.

We wish to assure our stakeholders that prudent measures have been put in place to prevent the recurrence of issues of this nature.