Former Head of Public Affairs at the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), Fiifi Boafo, has alleged that more than 10 experienced directors at the state agency are being paid full salaries despite being sidelined and rendered inactive under the current administration.
In an interview on Citi Eyewitness News on Tuesday, August 19, Mr. Boafo expressed concern over what he described as an inefficient use of public resources, claiming that a number of directors have been asked to stay at home and are no longer contributing meaningfully to the operations of COCOBOD.
“It is a statement of fact that there are a number of directors at COCOBOD who are now rendered almost useless, but they are drawing a salary,” Boafo said. “It is through no fault of those directors that they are not contributing anything significant to the board, but they are being paid.”
He questioned the logic behind sidelining long-serving professionals with institutional knowledge, experience, and expertise that could help improve the board’s performance, simply because a new government is in office.
Mr. Boafo described the situation as both a financial burden and a missed opportunity to leverage institutional memory and technical experience at a time when the cocoa sector faces serious challenges.
“I do not think that it is the most prudent thing to do,” he stated. “To ask these directors who have worked with the organisation for many years… and they have been asked to stay at home just because there is a new government in place — I think that is a cost to the board, and it also affects how effective and efficient the board operates.”
Speaking on the number of directors affected, he told host Umaru Sanda Amadu: “I will have to count but they are more than 10.”
As of now, COCOBOD has not issued any public response to the claims
