Ministerial committee clears CPC boss

Attempts by some elements of staff within the ranks and file of the government-owned Cocoa Processing Company (CPC) to instigate the removal of the company’s Managing Director, Nana Agyenim Boateng, have hit rough patches after an investigative committee set up by the Minister for Food and Agriculture cleared the MD of any wrongdoing.

Some agitated staff of the company reportedly wrote a petition to the Minister for Food and Agriculture, Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto, alleging impropriety on the part of the MD, and calling for his immediate removal.

The sector Minister then set up a Three-Member Committee led by a former deputy Minister and MP for New Edubiase, who also doubles as the Special Advisor to the Minister on Cocoa Affairs, George Boahen Oduro, to investigate the allegations.

Other members of the committee included the Director of Women in Agriculture (WIAD), Mad. Paulina Addy and Head of the Internal Audit Unit of the Ministry.

According to sources close to the Ministry, the workers, after presenting the petition refused at the initial stages to honour an invitation by the Committee to present evidence and or to substantiate allegations of impropriety levelled against the MD.

Reports indicated that these agitated staff backed by a leading member of the company claimed they could not appear before the Committee because of confidentiality and insisted rather that the Committee should deal with the Industrial and Commercial Workers Union(ICU) which is their mother union.

After several persuasions, the agitated staff finally appeared before the Committee and presented their grievances on May 11, 2022.

The Committee, in the course of their work, launched thorough investigations into the issues by extending invitations to several including the MD, and the Board Chairman of the Company in its bid to ascertain the veracity or otherwise of the allegations, as entailed in its terms of reference.

The report, however, reveals that the workers could not substantiate most of the allegations they presented, whilst others only bothered on minor errors such as lack of wide consultation in some decisions, which did not constitute any form of illegality or impropriety.

Further information indicates that the Committee has presented its findings to the Sector Minister.

The Committee, according to information, has exonerated and acquitted the MD of all charges levelled against him.

Additionally, the MD, who was asked to step aside pending investigations, will soon resume his position to continue his work.