The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of parliament has directed the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) to produce a report on payments made to cocoa road contractors from 2020 to now.
The committee gave the Chief Executive Officer of COCOBOD, Joseph Boahene-Aidoo, 2 weeks ultimatum to submit the documents.
Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, James Avedzi, stated that the COCOBOD CEO and other management members will be sanctioned should they fail to present the requested report(s).
To buttress his claim, Mr Avedzi said Article 103 (3) of the constitution stipulates that “(6) A committee appointed under this article shall have the powers, rights and privileges of the High Court or a Justice of the High Court at a trial for— (a) enforcing the attendance of witnesses and examining them on oath, affirmation or otherwise; (b) compelling the production of documents; and (c) issuing a commission or request to examine witnesses abroad”.
He further said, “I am using these powers to demand for that document...This is a committee of parliament, and this is a constitution that gave us that power, and so we want you to give us that report.”
“Whether the report has been submitted somewhere else, we are demanding it, and we give you two weeks," the PAC Chairman stated.
According to reports, government earmarked 286 cocoa roads for construction at GH¢13.6 billion
This was made known by the former Minister of Food and Agriculture, Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto while speaking on the floor of parliament.
He said the roads, with a total span of 4,465 kilometres (km), were made up of 258 feeder roads and 28 highway/trunk roads.
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Chairman of Public Accounts Committee, James Avedzi