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General News on Thursday, June 13, 2019
Source: clbadfmonline.com
2019-06-13
Prosecution witness Dr. Yaw Adu-Ampomah
Subcontracting issues with the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) continue to paralyze the third Prosecution witness, Yaw Adu-Ampomah, in the ongoing trial of former COCOBOD President Dr. Stephen Opuni, and the businessman Seidu Agongo, court correspondent reported.
Although the witness, in his examination-in-chief, categorically stated that COCOBOD had called for a tender for his purchase, it appeared to the court that his claim was false.
In his cross-examination, Mr. Sam Codjoe, the lawyer for the first accused (Mr. Stephen Opuni), disputed this badertion, since the witness could not essentially defend his position.
Usurpation of authority by the Public Procurement Officer
During the proceedings of Wednesday, June 12, 2019, Mr. Adu-Ampomah admitted having written on July 6, 2017 to the Authority for Public Procurement (PPA) a letter requesting the authorization to purchase agrochemicals via the single sourcing method for the CODAPECH / HITECH cocoa 2016/17 program.
He also stated that in response to this request, the APP had ordered COCOBOD, in a letter dated July 11, 2017, to negotiate the original price at 15%.
In this letter, the APP also advised COCOBOD to consider in the future to publicize its procurement needs in order to allow competition between manufacturers and save money.
But Dr. Yaw Adu-Ampomah told the court that the APP, in accordance with this directive, was usurping his authority because the problems were technicalities, which the APA was unaware of.
Single source agrochemicals favored by farmers
Dr. Adu-Ampomah laughed when Mr. Codjoe asked him if he had already mentioned that farmers preferred single-source agrochemicals in their discussions.
He vehemently denied having said that, but his laughter quickly evaporated when Mr. Codjoe had written him a letter. [Dr Adu-Ampomah] wrote to the PPA of 27 March 2018 to that effect.
In this letter, Dr. Adu-Ampomah, in his capacity as Deputy Director General for Agronomy and Quality Control at COCOBOD, stated that sole-source chemicals matched farmers' preferences, contrary to his previous refusal .
However, he explained that this was also due to technical details.
Dr. Opuni's lawyer then told Dr. Adu-Ampomah that during his tenure as Deputy Director General of COCOBOD, all purchases were made on a unit or sole-source basis.
Court orders PPA and COCOBOD to produce essential documents>
The court, presided over by Judge C.J. Honyenuga, ordered the public procurement officer (PPA) and COCOBOD to produce certain documents essential to the ongoing trial within seven days of service.
It was at the request of Dr Opuni's lawyer, reminding the court of a petition he had filed on 4 April 2018, requesting that the prosecution team provide him with these documents, including:
• All letters written by COCOBOD through Dr. Opuni to the PPA for permission to enter into sole source contracts for all fertilizers;
• All letters written by the APP in relation to all fertilizers during Dr. Opuni's tenure.
At the same time, the court ordered Dr. Adu-Ampomah to provide him with documents proving that COCOBOD had purchased agrochemicals and fertilizers by tender, as he claimed, during the 2017/17 season. 18.
He must file these documents by the next postponed date of June 20, 2019.
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