Opuni, Agongo being witch-hunted – Isaac Adongo

Bolga Central MP Isaac Adongo, has said the charges levelled against former Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), Dr Stephen Opuni, and businessman Seidu Agongo, smack of political witch-hunt.

According to him, the government is trying to score political points by incriminating appointees of the Mahama administration.

Dr Opuni, Mr Agongo and AgriCult Ghana Company Limited, are facing 27 charges of willfully causing financial loss of GHS217 to the state, through three separate fertiliser supply contracts between 2014 and 2016.

The contracts were GHS43.1million (2013/2014 cocoa farming season), GHS75.3million (2014/2015 cocoa farming season) and GHS98.9million (2015/2016 cocoa farming season) totaling GHS217million through sole-sourcing, the state claimed, adding that procurement procedures for sole-sourcing were not followed.

According to the charges, the consignments of Lithovit Foliar were produced locally, contrary to an agreement between COCOBOD and AgriCult Ghana Company Limited that it be sourced from Germany.

Also, the Attorney General claims the fertilisers were manufactured without registration, thereby, flouting the Plants and Fertiliser Act 2010.

According to the state, Dr Opuni also took a bribe of GHS25,000 from Mr Agongo in October 2014 to facilitate the award of one of the contracts by misrepresenting facts to the Public Procurement Authority.

The state also said the 2014 contract was awarded without any price quotation.

In Mr Adongo’s view, the charges preferred against the three accused persons amount to “political vendetta”, adding that there is “nothing legal” about them.

He told Chief Jerry Forson on Accra100.5FM’s Ghana Yensom programme on Monday, 19 March that: “We went through the pain to establish an office of the Special Prosecutor, and, so, he should be in charge of such prosecutions.”