The Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) on Tuesday spiked
claims that Vice President John Dramani Mahama influenced its decision to lift the ban on a cocoa buying company it had banned for involvement in cocoa smuggling on the western corridor.
A statement issued by the Public Affairs Department of COCOBOD in Accra said: �COCOBOD wishes (therefore) to place on record that at no time did the Vice President H.E. John Dramani Mahama interfere with or show any interest
whatsoever in this matter as is being alleged in certain quarters.�
The British Sunday Times newspaper had alleged that Mr Andrew Mitchell, Britain�s International Development Secretary, intervened through his country�s Foreign Office to have the ban overturned.
It alleged that this was after he was asked for help by Mr Anthony Ward, whose cocoa trading firm, Armajaro Holdings, lost its trading license
in the Western Region following allegations that its local subsidiary, Armajaro Ghana Ltd, was among those caught smuggling cocoa out of Ghana.
Giving a chronological account of the matter, COCOBOD said following the release of a video footage by an undercover reporter, Anas Aremeyaw Anas, depicting the clandestine activities of a cocoa smuggling syndicate,
involving some agents of Messrs Armajaro (Ghana) Limited, Transroyal Ghana Limited and Diaby Limited, the Management decided to impose an indefinite ban on the three companies from operating in certain areas within the western corridor with effect from April 16, 2010.
It said following appeals from the affected companies and their farmers, the Research, Monitoring and Evaluation Department of COCOBOD was directed by management to undertake an exercise to ascertain the level of compliance of the three companies to the ban.
�The outcome of the exercise indicated that the affected companies had respected the ban and had gone a step further by organizing seminars on
anti-smuggling for their field staff,� it said.
The statement said COCOBOD management further noted that the continuous existence of the ban would negatively affect the companies� staff who operated in districts that were not involved in the perpetration of the act.
�It was further noted that the ban had adversely affected the provision of communal projects initiated by some of these companies in districts where the incident did not take place.�
The statement said Mr Anas paid glowing tribute to a member of staff of
Armajaro Ghana Limited, describing him as �a clean Armajaro worker�.
Mr Anas had said this particular worker had reported the movements of the undercover agents to the police, suspecting them to be smugglers.
�In the light of the above and in consultation with relevant stakeholders, Management decided to recommend to the Board of Directors for the review of the ban.
�At the Board of Directors meeting held on Tuesday, 28th September, 2010, the Board of Directors directed that the ban placed on the three companies from operating in the Western Corridor of Ghana be lifted in all the areas except the districts where the video footage captured the involvement of their agents.�
The statement said Article 3.8, subsection 2, of the Sanctions for the Malpractices in the Internal Marketing of Cocoa prescribed that �the
affected company shall be ordered to withdraw its operation from the district in which the incident occurred, for one crop year�.
It said the latest action by COCOBOD in limiting the ban to the affected districts was, therefore, consistent with its own rules.