Eric Opoku, Member of Parliament for Asunafo South and Ranking Member of the Select Committee on Food and Agriculture, has issued a grave warning regarding the future of Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD).
Speaking on **ABC IN THE MORNING** on Friday, September 13, 2024, he declared that the company is “verging on collapse.”
He cited the organization’s six consecutive years of financial losses under the New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration, expressing concern that COCOBOD is struggling to sustain itself.
Opoku pointed to the Auditor General’s report, which indicates that COCOBOD is unable to meet its short-term liabilities.
“If you have a company that is incurring losses for six consecutive years, you don’t need any other evidence to conclude that the company is collapsing,” he said.
He further stressed that the company had defaulted on its short-term bills for the first time since its establishment, raising red flags about the organization’s financial health.
The most alarming concern raised by the MP was COCOBOD’s inability to pay GHS 13.5 billion in cocoa bills that were due after the last cocoa season.
According to Opoku, “COCOBOD issues short-term bills to raise funds to finance cocoa purchases, and immediately the season is over, they are able to pay.
Unfortunately, this time round, they could not pay.”
He emphasized, “Clearly the company is in installment, and nobody can dispute this.”
