The Minority in Parliament is calling for an immediate apology from the CEO of the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), Joseph Boahen Aidoo, to former President John Dramani Mahama.

The demand stems from what the Minority perceives as a false statement made by Mr. Boahen Aidoo regarding Ghana’s 2023/24 cocoa forward sales.

In a press release issued on Tuesday, November 21, the Minority, led by the Ranking Member on the Food and Agriculture Committee in Parliament, insists the COCOBOD CEO erred when he questioned Mr. Mahama’s understanding of how the producer price of cocoa is determined.

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The Minority maintains that the former President was accurate in his criticism of the recent announcement of a GH¢1,308 producer price per bag of cocoa.

“It has now emerged that the CEO of COCOBOD told a deliberate falsehood in his desperate attempt to justify the rip-off that the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia government has meted out to our hard-working cocoa farmers.”

“According to documents submitted to Parliament by COCOBOD as part of processes for the approval of the syndicated loan for cocoa purchases for the 2023/24 crop season, it was disclosed that only 36.2% of our cocoa for this season was sold forward and used as collateral to secure the $800 million syndicated loan,” portions of the statement said.

They concluded that the COCOBOD CEO is not competent to challenge the NDC flagbearer on issues related to the Cocoa sector.

“The Minority group wishes to state for the records that Joseph Boahen Aidoo has lied to cocoa farmers and the entire nation. He had no basis whatsoever to impugn ill motive into what was a statement of fact by the respected former President.”

“He therefore owes President Mahama, hardworking cocoa farmers and the entire nation an unqualified apology.”