The directive from the Ghanaian Cabinet to initiate a forensic audit and criminal probe into the Ghana Cocoa Board marks a watershed moment for the world’s second-largest cocoa producer. In a high-stakes legal move, the Cabinet has directed the Attorney General and Minister for Justice, Hon. Dr. Dominic Ayine, to commission a concurrent forensic and criminal investigation into COCOBOD’s activities over the last eight years. This move by Finance Minister Cassiel Ato Forson signals a shift from mere administrative oversight to a formal legal cleanup. By targeting the legacy of past management, the government is specifically addressing a debt stock that has ballooned to GH¢32.9 billion.
“A careful review of the cocoa sector over the last eight years revealed gross mismanagement, which requires immediate and comprehensive reforms,” Forson said.
Dismantling the Debt Architecture
The core of COCOBOD’s financial distress lies in its departure from its primary mandate into massive infrastructure financing. Dr. Forson revealed that the Attorney General’s probe will specifically scrutinize billions in road contracts awarded between 2018 and 2021 without budgetary allocations. To remedy the current crisis, the government has secured a $500 million (GH¢5.5 billion) World Bank facility to take over agricultural road construction. Under the current supervision of the Ministry of Finance and the Attorney General’s legal review, the board’s road exposure has already been rationalized and reduced from GH¢21.7 billion to GH¢4.35 billion.
The CEO’s Defense: A “Double Whammy”
While under fire, COCOBOD CEO Randy Abbey has described the institution’s current position as the most “precarious” in its nearly 80-year history. Abbey revealed that he inherited a “negative equity” position of 3.8 billion cedis—the first in the board’s history—where liabilities significantly exceeded assets. He attributed the current liquidity crisis to a “double whammy”: the collapse of the 2024 syndicated loan and the obligation to honor legacy contracts priced at $2,600 (GH¢28,613) per tonne while farmers were being paid at a rate of $3,100 (GH¢34,115).
“This is what we inherited. We had a situation where we were using high-priced cocoa to pay for contracts sold at much lower rates, resulting in heavy losses for every tonne supplied,” Abbey said.
The Opposition’s Defense: Rollovers and Reality
While the government decries a “rollover scandal,” the opposition New Patriotic Party has pushed back, framing these obligations as standard industry practice. Dr. Isaac Opoku, the Offinso Member of Parliament, argued that the 333,767-tonne rollover—often cited as the cause of the board’s $1.3 billion (GH¢14.3 billion) revenue loss—is a normal response to production risks like weather and smuggling. “Contract rollover is a standard industry practice. It happens all the time,” Opoku said, noting that the previous administration inherited 190,000 tonnes of similar contracts in 2017.
The Leadership Ultimatum: “Sack the CEO”
The Minority in Parliament has escalated the crisis into a leadership showdown, formally demanding the dismissal of Dr. Abbey. Ranking Member Kojo Oppong Nkrumah argued that Abbey’s tenure has presided over the “worst collapse” in the board’s history. Beyond the boardroom, the Minority warned of looming nationwide protests if payments are not restored. “We ask the President to relieve the CEO of his responsibilities. If farmers take to the streets, we will join them,” Oppong Nkrumah said during a February 12 briefing. This demand shifts the focus from structural reform to individual accountability, placing immense pressure on President Mahama to “clean the house.”
Supply Chain Realities: From Field to Port
The intersection of technical debt and political sparring has manifested as a visceral survival crisis for the millions of Ghanaians dependent on the “golden pod.” This systemic failure has triggered a total breakdown of trust at the farm gate, where the promise of payment has been replaced by “economic paralysis.”
For farmers like 65-year-old Joseph Bermah Dautey, the crisis is measured in missed meals and broken futures. After delivering six bags of cocoa without receiving a single cedi, Dautey’s reality has turned grim. “I owe money on my farm and cannot pay my daughter’s tuition,” he shared. “I have been forced to cut back to one meal a day.”
This desperation is not isolated to the growers. Licensed Buying Companies (LBCs) warn they are on the brink of collapse, currently owed approximately $185 million (GH¢2.04 billion) by the regulator. The resulting liquidity vacuum has turned purchasing clerks—once the trusted link between the board and the bush—into targets of communal anger.
Vitus Dzah, General Secretary of the Licensed Cocoa Buyers Association (LICOBAG), warned that frustrated farmers have begun the “harassment and citizen’s arrest” of clerks. One 20-year veteran of the trade described the psychological toll of the standoff: “From November till now, I can’t sleep. The farmers are at my doorstep every day demanding their money. I have never seen anything like this.”
“The farmer is the one carrying the weight of the nation’s debt on their back, yet they are the last to be paid,” a representative for the Ghana Civil-Society Cocoa Platform noted.
The Producer Price Squeeze
The most immediate shock is the government’s decision to slash the farmgate price to GH¢2,587 per bag (GH¢41,392 per tonne) for the remainder of the season. This correction follows a global downturn where prices tumbled from an average of $7,200 (GH¢79,236) to about $4,100 (GH¢45,120) per tonne. While the government maintains this represents 90% of the achieved Free-On-Board (FOB) price of $4,200 (GH¢46,221), the Minority has slammed the reduction as “unacceptable,” demanding the government restore the higher rate by absorbing the market shock.
The Pivot to Value Addition
Perhaps the most ambitious aspect of the reform is the mandate for 50% local processing beginning in the 2026-2027 season. Cabinet has directed that the remainder of the 2025-2026 crop be immediately allocated to domestic processors. Reviving state-owned entities like the Cocoa Processing Company represents a return to state-led industrialization. However, the success of this shift depends on whether the private sector can absorb the increased volume amidst a GH¢2.04 billion ($185 million) liquidity crunch that has left 50,000 metric tonnes of beans stranded at ports.
Redefining Cocoa Financing
The decision to scrap the 30-year-old international syndicated loan model in favor of domestic cocoa bonds is a radical move toward financial sovereignty. This revolving fund model aims to repay proceeds within each crop year, decoupling the sector from international lenders who grew wary of COCOBOD’s insolvency. The existential question for 2026 is whether a domestic market can absorb the billions in bonds required to sustain Ghana’s most critical export. A new Cocoa Board Bill—vetted by the Attorney General’s office—will also be presented to Parliament to prohibit COCOBOD from engaging in quasi-fiscal expenditures and to introduce an automatic adjustment of producer prices, guaranteeing farmers a minimum of 70% of the gross FOB price.
A Precarious Path to Sovereignty
The success of Ghana’s cocoa overhaul hinges on a balance between punitive accountability and pragmatic survival. The pivot to domestic financing and local processing is a bold attempt to break raw-material dependency. However, without a recovery in global prices or a resolution to the leadership crisis, these structural shifts risk trading one form of financial vulnerability for another. For the Mahama administration, the outcome of these reforms will define the political landscape for the next decade.
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