Ghana’s cocoa farmer — the seed sower, the pod-picker, the foundation of one of the country’s most strategic export sectors, is once again left waiting for payment while the institutions meant to protect his interests collapse under debt, mismanagement, and opaque governance. It’s a tragedy not only for rural livelihoods but for the overall economy. And it is avoidable. To understand how this crisis came about, and how it continues, we have to go beyond simple explanations about “lack of funds” and look squarely at structural failure, financial misfeasance, and institutional accountability deficits, especially within the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD).
Cocoa is Ghana’s Economic Backbone, Yet Farmers Are Left Behind
For decades, cocoa has been a crown jewel of Ghana’s export economy. Alongside gold and oil, it earns foreign exchange, supports rural employment, and powers ancillary industries from transport to agro-inputs. Yet, paradoxically, the men and women who plant, nurture, and harvest cocoa trees are repeatedly the last to be paid. It’s not only unfair — it undercuts the very economic engine the country depends on. Today’s payment delays aren’t an isolated glitch; they are symptoms of deeper systemic failure.
COCOBOD’s Debt Crisis: A Structural Weakness, Not Just a Financial Problem
COCOBOD’s financial troubles are not new. Auditor-General reports have shown that the Board has struggled with massive debt burdens and a lack of clear strategies to manage them. For example, the Auditor-General reported that COCOBOD had debts totaling about GH¢12.3 billion as of the end of the 2019/2020 financial year, without effective plans to reduce that burden. These debts constrain COCOBOD’s ability to pre-finance cocoa purchases. Without sufficient liquidity, the Board struggles to pay farmers on time, yet the debt itself was not prudently managed or transparently justified. Moreover, additional audit findings have flagged financial irregularities such as unearned salary payments to former employees and lapses in recovery of funds. For the year ending December 31, 2024, the Auditor-General found that two former COCOBOD workers were paid unearned salaries totaling over GH¢25,716. Payments that should be recovered or sanctioned. These are not trivial numbers. They are indications of systems that are not functioning with strong financial discipline, and farmers are paying the price.
Auditor-General Reports Expose Management Weaknesses
The Auditor-General’s annual audits, submitted to Parliament and scrutinized by oversight bodies like the Public Accounts Committee, have repeatedly uncovered issues at COCOBOD that go beyond ordinary bureaucratic shortcomings. In addition to payroll irregularities, past reports have noted that COCOBOD could not justify loans and grants amounting to over GH¢3.5 million due to lack of supporting documentation. Another deep structural issue was identified where expired chemicals and fertilizers valued at nearly GH¢23.96 million were written off without proper parliamentary approval. These are not academic observations, they reveal weak internal controls and disregard for basic financial governance procedures. A key part of good governance is transparency and accountability. When audit findings repeatedly show weak controls, insufficient documentation, and unauthorized write-offs, stakeholders rightly ask: Who is accountable? The cocoa farmer, receiving delayed payment, gets none of this accountability.
The Opuni Saga: A Case Study in Failed Accountability
One of the most high-profile legal cases involving COCOBOD in recent years was the prosecution of Dr. Stephen Kwabena Opuni, a former Chief Executive Officer of COCOBOD. In 2018, the Attorney-General charged Opuni and businessman Seidu Agongo with 27 counts, including defrauding by false pretenses, corruption, money laundering, and willfully causing financial loss to the state related to a fertilizer procurement deal allegedly worth hundreds of millions of cedis. The State alleged that substandard fertilizer was procured and that procurement rules were flouted. The trial dragged on for seven years, exposing serious weaknesses in prosecutorial efficiency and the rule of law itself. Even the Attorney-General at one point described the prolonged trial as “highly unacceptable, unfair,” given its duration compared to how quickly other criminal cases are resolved. In January 2025, the Attorney-General’s Office withdrew all charges, and Dr. Opuni was acquitted and discharged. This outcome raises legitimate concerns about whether institutional and political dynamics, rather than transparent pursuit of justice influenced the process. No matter one’s view on Opuni’s personal culpability, the case illustrates a broader point. Where there are serious allegations of financial loss to the state, a lack of timely resolution leaves the public (and especially farmers) disillusioned with accountability systems. The cocoa farmer waiting months for his payment can only ask: If high-profile corruption and mismanagement cases can go unresolved for years, then what hope is there for justice in the cocoa value chain?
Governance Weaknesses Hurt Cocoa Farmers Directly
When financial irregularities and governance failures go unchecked, the shock waves reach farmers first:
* Delayed Cash Flow — Farmers depend on seasonal income for food, school fees, and buying inputs for the next season. Delays in farm gate payments disrupt household budgets and investment in farming.
* Eroded Trust — When farmers see officials implicated in financial scandals and unresolved cases at the Board’s highest levels, confidence in the entire system erodes.
* Smuggling and Production Decline — Predictably, farmers seek alternatives. When neighbouring countries offer better prices and prompt payment, beans are smuggled across borders. Smuggling drains official volumes and foreign exchange, hurting the entire national economy
* Exit from Farming — With persistent delays and unclear futures, rural youth increasingly abandon cocoa farming for urban migration or insecure informal work. This is a long-term threat to cocoa supply and rural sustainability.
* Encouraging Galamsey Activities — Many cocoa farmers are switching to illegal mining. Large tracts of land with cocoa and other crops give more income when used for galamsey.
These are not hypothetical outcomes, they are the lived realities in cocoa communities across the Ashanti, Western, Eastern, Bono, and Ahafo regions.
Accountability Gaps: From Audit to Action
The Auditor-General does what every audit office should. Unearth irregularities, flag risks, and recommend corrective action. But audit reports are only as powerful as the actions they prompt. Governance safeguards — internal audit departments, parliamentary oversight, and the Public Accounts Committee to ensure recommendations are followed and those responsible are held to account. Yet, the pattern of repeated audit findings at COCOBOD shows that recommendations are often not fully implemented or enforced. Absent firm consequences — financial recovery, sanctions, or management reform, the cycle of weak controls persists. In any organization that truly serves farmers and taxpayers, recurring audit infractions would prompt serious institutional change. Instead, COCOBOD’s weaknesses have become so familiar that stakeholders now expect them.
Beyond Blame: How to Fix the Cocoa Payment Crisis
Pinpointing problems is important. But journalists, policymakers, and activists also need practical solutions that signal a real break from dysfunction.
Here are reform imperatives:
Cocoa Farmers Are Not a Cushion, They Are Partners
The truth is unambiguous. Keeping cocoa farmers poor and unpaid weakens Ghana’s economy. These farmers do not produce beans for charity; they produce cocoa that fuels exports, jobs, and foreign exchange. When payments are delayed, when management irregularities go unresolved, and when governance failures are treated as routine, the consequences are felt first by the poorest — the rural farmer who cannot delay rent, school fees, or food purchases. A state that refuses to prioritize its agricultural producers is a state that undervalues its own economic lifeblood.
My Thoughts: The Time for Action Is Now
Ghana must choose whether its cocoa sector remains mired in debt, delayed payments, and governance failures, or whether it embraces efficiency, accountability, and fairness. The cocoa farmer is not asking for charity. He is demanding dignity, certainty, and justice. Delivering that is not only good economics; it is good governance. It’s time for policymakers, COCOBOD, audit institutions, and civil society to act, not with press releases, but with measurable reforms that put cocoa farmers first. The NDC and the NPP must show Ghanaians they love this country called Ghana. The truth politicians don’t want to be told is that political interference is hollowing out Ghana’s key institutions and putting the country’s future at risk.
FUSEINI ABDULAI BRAIMAH
+233208282575 / +233550558008
[email protected]
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