Majority rejects NPP demand to sack COCOBOD CEO Randy Abbey over cocoa price reduction

The Majority in Parliament has rejected calls by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Minority for President John Dramani Mahama to dismiss Randy Abbey as Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) following the government’s decision to reduce cocoa producer prices.

On Thursday, February 12, the NPP Minority accused Mr Abbey of mismanaging the cocoa sector and argued that the price cut reflected leadership failure, demanding his immediate removal.

However, Chairman of Parliament’s Agriculture and Cocoa Affairs Committee, Dr. Godfred Seidu Jassaw, dismissed the demand as unfounded and premature, insisting that the sector’s challenges predate Mr Abbey’s tenure and are rooted in longstanding structural issues.

“It’s not a plausible pathway,” Dr. Jassaw said, defending the COCOBOD CEO’s performance. He noted that Mr Abbey has been working to stabilise the sector and address systemic weaknesses rather than causing the current difficulties.

According to him, COCOBOD’s struggles are the result of deeper structural constraints and not individual mismanagement, adding that the current leadership should be given time to implement ongoing reforms and steer the industry toward sustainability and growth.

Dr. Jassaw assured that Parliament of Ghana would continue to exercise its oversight responsibility over the cocoa sector and assess the effectiveness of reforms before drawing conclusions.

The controversy follows the government’s announcement of a revised cocoa producer price after a decline in global market prices. Finance Minister Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson disclosed that the Producer Price Review Committee recommended that farmers receive 90 percent of the achieved gross Free on Board (FOB) price of $4,200 per tonne.

Based on the recommendation, the new producer price has been set at GH₵41,392 per tonne equivalent to GH₵2,587 per bag for the remainder of the 2025–2026 crop season.

The exchange highlights rising political tension over the state of Ghana’s cocoa sector, a critical pillar of the national economy, as stakeholders debate the best path to recovery and long-term sustainability.