...But COCOBOD workers describe allegations against CEO as lies

Workers of the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) have hit back at the Industrial and Commercial Workers Union (ICU) and the General Agricultural Workers Union (GAWU), describing the two unions’ accusations against the Chief Executive Officer of the COCOBOD as blatant lies born out of frustration.

Reacting to allegations of irregularities levelled against the management of COCOBOD in an interview yesterday, Alhaji Idris Hassan, the Chairman of the Supreme Council of COCOBOD Workers, the apex body of COCOBOD’s workers, said the ICU and GAWU were frustrated and hurt at the decision of COCOBOD workers to form their own union and had, therefore, resorted to lies, fabrication and mischief to discredit the CEO of the company.

He said no amount of lies could, however, reverse their decision since more than 2,000 workers had already filled their forms to withdraw their membership from the ICU and GAWU.

The chairman also indicated that the decision of the workers to form their own union was not undemocratic since the constitution of the country permitted freedom of association.

“The ICU itself broke away from the Trades Union Congress (TUC) some years back, Textiles Workers Union also broke away from the ICU and, so has UNICOF. The Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana (CRIG) has also broken away from GAWU so I do not see anything wrong with us also breaking away to form our own union,” he said.

He said the ICU attempted to apply for a court injunction to prevent the COCOBOD workers from breaking away  but that could not materialise since the court threw that request out, hence its decision to now resort to the public opinion by peddling lies.

“The constitution of the ICU requires workers to serve the ICU three months notice, while the GAWU Constitution also requires a six-month notice and we the workers of COCOBOD did exactly that,” he explained.

Responding to the allegation of transfer and victimisation, Alhaji Hassan said COCOBOD was entitled to transfer any of its staff at any given time to a place they thought their expertise was needed. 

He stressed that none of its workers had been victimised as claimed by ICU-Ghana and GAWU. He also said although the ICU had written various letters to the Presidency and the Minister of Employment and Labour Relations for the removal of Dr Stephen Opuni from office, the call had been ignored upon the realisation that all the group’s allegations against the COCOBOD CEO were false.

Alhaji Hassan said the management of COCOBOD decided to assist its subsidiaries such as Cocoa Marketing Company, the Cocoa Research Institute, Quality Control and Seed Production, Cocoa Health and Extension Division  with T-shirts and refreshment for the May Day celebration.

He said all money to facilitate the purchase of the T-shirts and the refreshment were handled by the national trustee of the company, Mr Jonathan Cloo, and not the management as alleged by the two unions. 

He further stated that so far, GH¢30,000 had been disbursed to various subsidiaries and divisions of the company to help them to prepare for the May Day celebration.

Touching on the alleged secret selling of cocoa by the company, Alhaji Idris Hassan said Cocoa Marketing Company was in charge of the sales of the produce and not the management of COCOBOD.  

On the issue of the salary of the CEO of the COCOBOD, Alhaji Hassan charged the two unions to go to the Minister of Finance for clarification, since he had the final approval of Dr Opuni’s salary.

ICU and GAWU’s accusations

At a joint press conference in Accra yesterday, the ICU and GAWU appealed to the government to investigate malfeasance and irregularities allegedly orchestrated by the management of COCOBOD. 

The two unions said there were a number of corrupt practices involving the secret sale of cocoa, excess cocoa deliveries to processing factories, improper accounting for medicines at the Cocoa Clinic, waste in the procurement and insurance of cocoa exports, duties of the buyers, duties of COCOBOD and punitive transfers in the organisation which needed immediate investigation.

Workers response

The Chairman of the Supreme Council, Alhaji Hassan, in an interview with the Daily Graphic, said the issues raised by the two unions were just meant to deceive the public.

He said transfers were not done by the CEO and that there was no law in the collective bargaining agreement that prohibited  transfers.

He explained that the conditions of service for the CEO were not determined by the CEO himself but was done by the board through a laid-down procedure.

He said the COCOBOD workers and cocoa farmers in the country were the only people who could attest to how hard the CEO was working, and not the ICU and GAWU.