Claims by prosecution witnesses that a 10kg quantity of powdered lithovit foliar fertilizer was received by Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana (CRIG) for testing in 2013, have been dismantled by a former Deputy Executive Director of CRIG, Rev. Dr Emmanuel Oddoye.
Rev. Dr Oddoye, who doubled as the Chairman of CRIG’s Committee for Testing Chemicals and Machines, the body responsible for reviewing and approving all tested and evaluated chemicals and machines at CRIG, has told the Accra High Court that the highly publicized 10kg powdered lithovit foliar fertilizer was never received by CRIG.
The witness was giving his testimony under cross-examination on Monday, June 3, 2024, led by Principal State Attorney, Stella Ohene Appiah.
Former Chief Executive of COCOBOD Dr Stephen Opuni and businessman Seidu Agongo, as well as Agricult Ghana Limited, have been standing trial since 2018, facing 27 charges, including defrauding by false pretences, willfully causing financial loss to the state, corruption by public officers and contravention of the Public Procurement Act in the purchase of Lithovit Liquid Fertilizer between 2014 and 2016.
The first prosecution witness (PW1), Dr Franklin Manu Amoah, had testified before a committee chaired by the third prosecution witness (PW3) Dr.Yaw Adu-Ampomah in 2017 that the lithovit sample forwarded to him by the same Dr Adu-Ampomah, then the Deputy Chief Executive of COCOBOD in Charge of Agronomy and Quality Control for testing in 2013 weighed 10kg. The claim is contained in that committee’s report tendered in evidence as Exhibit H.
Also, the second prosecution witness (PW2), Dr Alfred Arthur, the then senior soil scientist at CRIG, in his evidence-in-chief in October 2018 made mention of the 10kg.
“In the case of Lithovit foliar fertilizer, the additional quantity requested was 10kg since the product submitted was powdery”, the pro-government newspaper Daily Guide quoted Dr Arthur as telling the court.
However, the prosecution tendered through Dr. Arthur (PW2) a sealed one-kilogram plastic bottle with a powdery substance, which he claimed was the lithovit that the then head of Soil Science Division at CRIG, Mr. A.A. Afrifa, gave to him and other scientists to test.
Although, Samuel Codjoe, the lawyer for Dr Opuni, challenged the authenticity of the product and vehemently objected to its being tendered, the then presiding judge, Justice Clemence Honyenuga, now retired, overruled the objection and admitted it into evidence as Exhibit E.
Ironically, the credibility of that evidence was questioned by the prosecution’s own third witness Dr Adu-Ampomah.
“My Lord I don’t know where this is coming from,” Dr Adu-Ampomah told the court when he was shown the one-kilo bottle in court under cross-examination in 2019.
Meanwhile, the Accra High Court presided over by Justice Aboagye Tandoh on June 3, 2024, was told that the supposed 10kg powdered lithovit fertilizer that Dr. Amoah alleged was tested, was never delivered.
“You have also stated that there is no evidence that the 10kg of lithovit fertilizer requested was ever brought or received by CRIG. That is so?” the prosecution, Stella Ohene Appiah asked the witness.
Rev. Dr. Emmanuel Oddoye, who is in full-time ministry as an Anglican priest, responded, “That is so”.
The witness had in the previous sitting admitted that the practice in COCOBOD is that the letter from COCOBOD to CRIG requesting it to test any chemical would have a sample, but CRIG would request for the actual quantities that it requires for the test together with the budget for the test hence the original sample received from COCOBOD is not what would be used for the actual test.
Meanwhile, the head of the Soil Science Division, CRIG, Mr. A.A. Afrifa who in 2013 received the actual sample submitted and paid for by Agricult for testing told the Adu-Ampomah committee that investigated lithovit in 2017, a number of times that lithovit foliar fertilizer was a liquid substance.
“Chief [Dr. Yaw Adu Ampomah] that one, I can be 100% certain that, it was liquid that was submitted,” the committee’s report which is exhibit H captured Mr. Afrifa to have said.
Dr. Yaw Adu-Ampomah in Exhibit H page 28 then asked Mr. Afrifa another question: “The former Director of CRIG, Dr. Amoah, who received the sample says it was powder. You in your report stated that it was fine powder but the supplier brought liquid”.
Mr. Afrifa insisted, “No, chief, that one, I am 100% sure that what was brought to us was liquid in plastic containers, and I remember that it was liquid”.
Meanwhile, several other scientists, both former and current staff of COCOBOD, who have testified in court have said that lithovit tested by CRIG was liquid.
For instance, Dr. Anim Kwapong who was the former Executive Director of CRIG whose tenure lithovit was re-evaluated said it was liquid.
Mr Jerome Dogbatse, a senior research scientist at CRIG, who played an active role in the re-evaluation of lithovit in 2016 said PW2 Dr. Alfred Arthur was also a member of the team that re-evaluated lithovit as a liquid fertilizer in 2016. Dr. Arthur was also a member of the CTCM that reviewed the evaluation report and passed lithovit liquid fertilizer without him raising any reservations or alarm that the lithovit fertilizer he tested with other scientists in 2013 was powder and not liquid.
The powdery claim was further challenged by the fact that in 2014, CRIG wrote to Agricult Ghana Ltd to pay for the reevaluation of lithovit for 2015 and the letter referred to the product as a liquid fertilizer contrary to the claims by Dr. Adu-Ampomah that, “There was no record at COCOBOD indicating that any of such Liquid Lithovit Fertilizer had been tested by CRIG”.
“The cost of the activities for the re-assessment and evaluation exercise is estimated at…and we should be grateful for your kind contribution of 5.0% (GH¢6,492.50) in respect of Lithovit Liquid Fertilizer,” the letter dated November 20, 2014 and signed by the then Deputy Executive Director of CRIG, Dr. Opoku Ameyaw, who also doubled as the Chairman of the Committee for the Testing of Chemicals and Machinery, read in part.
But an attempt by counsel for Dr. Opuni, lawyer Samuel Codjoe to tender this particular document through PW3 Dr. Adu-Ampomah in July 2019 was rejected by the court.
Interestingly, in March 2017, Dr. Yaw Adu-Ampomah instructed Dr. Amoah PW1 to re-evaluate and issue certificate for lithovit liquid fertilizer. He attached copies of the previous years’ certificates issued for lithovit fertilizer which acknowledged the product as liquid. Dr. Amoah in turn minuted on that letter and asked the Chairman of the CTCM, Dr. Oddoye, to “kindly ensure due diligence in the re-evaluation of the product and submit report for forwarding to COCOBOD.” The letter was again forwarded on March 16, to the Head of Soil Science at CRIG.
“For the purposes of issuing a new certificate for the ensuing year, there is the need to do some form of re-evaluation to ascertain that agrochemicals, fertilizers and machines are still effective,” Rev. Dr. Oddoye explained in court.
He also confirmed that lithovit liquid fertilizer was evaluated in 2017 as a liquid product.
“At the time I signed this letter [Exhibit 5 requesting Agricult to pay for the re-evaluation of lithovit for 2018 certificate] on behalf of the Executive Director of CRIG, I was in the process of getting to know the workings of the CTCM better. Previous documentation had referred to a product known as lithovit liquid fertilizer and the name was not in dispute as at that time and therefore there was no need for me to change it.
