“Why Is He Still in Office?” — Charles Owusu Fires COCOBOD CEO

Former Forestry Commission official Charles Owusu has criticised the Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), Dr Randy Abbey, questioning why he “is still in office.”
Speaking on Peace FM‘s morning show ‘Kokrokoo‘, Charles Owusu suggested that the current crisis in the cocoa sector was due to wrong decisions from leadership, including not engaging the cocoa farmers. He argued that engagement with cocoa farmers should have been prioritised much earlier to prevent the growing discontent.
“Engagement with the farmers should have been done long ago,” he said, stressing that delayed communication has contributed to frustration among producers.
Charles Owusu further criticised what he described as divided attention on the part of the COCOBOD CEO, noting that Randy Abbey also serves as Chairman of the Black Stars Management Committee. He questioned the wisdom of holding both roles simultaneously.
“One person being the CEO of COCOBOD and at the same time chairman of the Black Stars Committee, when we have plenty of people in the country,” he remarked.
He cautioned President John Dramani Mahama to be mindful of the political implications of the situation.
“Mahama should be careful because things like this can cause embarrassment to his government, despite the good things he is doing. I don’t even know why the Chief Executive Officer is still in office,” he stated.