Dr Anin Kwapong, former Executive Director, Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana (CRIG), says the scientists who conducted a test and reported on the Lithovit foliar fertilizer, did shady work.
He told an Accra High Court that the report generated by the scientists and the certificates issued as a result of the testing, were problematic.
Dr Kwapong, who is a defence witness in the trial involving Dr Stephen Kwabena Opuni, the former Chief Executive of COCOBOD, and Seidu Agongo, a businessman, said the composition of the fertilizer was not clearly stated.
Dr Opuni and Mr Agongo, a Businessman and CEO of Agricult Ghana Limited, are facing 27 charges, including defrauding by false pretences, wilfully causing financial loss to the State, money laundering, and corruption by a public officer in contravention of the Public Procurement Act.
They have both pleaded not guilty to the charges and are on a GH¢300,000.00 self-recognizance bail, each.
He told the court presided over by Justice Aboagye Tandoh that if he could review the document, he would have asked one simple question: “how do they expect farmers to measure the fertilizer before application?”
The Prosecution led by Mrs Evelyn Keelson, Chief State Attorney, suggested to the witness that he had no idea when Lithovit fertilizer was introduced to COCOBOD by Agricult Ghana on behalf of Mr Agongo and the witness agreed.
He said he had no idea when the fertilizer was purchased by COCOBOD in the 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016 cocoa seasons.
The witness said scientists at CRIG were not directly involved in the purchase and procurement of fertilizers.
The witness said he had no idea of the nature and composition because the product was introduced to him sometime when he became the Acting Executive Director of CRIG.
Dr Kwapong agreed that the nature and composition of the fertilizer submitted for testing by suppliers were contained in the Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS).
He said the MSDS was not meant for the farmer, it was meant for the manufacturers.
Asked whether the Lithovit fertilizer tested and approved was what COCOBOD procured, the witness said, “l am not aware of what COCOBOD procured.”
Mrs Keelson further asked the witness whether he knew that the Lithovit tested and approved by COCOBOD in 2014 was not a liquid fertilizer but a powdering fertilizer but the witness said he had said consistently that Lithovit fertilizer was liquid not a powder.
The Court adjourned to Thursday, January 18, 2024.GNA16 Jan. 2024
GNA
SOF
17 Jan.2024
