The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ghana Cocoa Board, Dr Stephen Kwabena Opuni, has been relieved of his post with immediate effect.
A letter dated January 12, 2017, issued in Accra yesterday, and signed by the Executive Secretary to the President, Nana Bediatuo Asante, asked Dr Opuni to hand over to Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto, who is the representative of the President at the Ministry of Agriculture, not later than 5 p.m.yesterday.
Letter
The letter terminating the appointment of Dr Opuni, which was copied to the Vice-President, the Chief of Staff, the President’s representatives at the ministries of Finance and Agriculture, counted on the cooperation of the CEO to comply with the directive.
“Pursuant to Section 14 (1) of the Presidential Transition Act, 2012 (Act 845) and paragraph 6 of the schedule thereto, you ceased to hold office as Chief Executive of Ghana Cocoa Board upon the assumption of office of His Excellency, the President of the Republic,” it said.
Section 14 (1) of the Act states that: “On the assumption of office of the person elected as President, a person holding any of the offices specified in the Schedule shall cease to hold that office, and shall be paid the relevant retirement benefits and the enjoyment of facilities as provided by law.
Sub-section two of Section 14 (1) says that the functions of the office of a person who ceases to hold office under subsection (1) shall be performed by a person so appointed by the President for the period specified in writing by the President.
Schedule 6 in the section under reference in the Transition Act talks about persons appointed by the President or a Minister of State as members of Statutory Boards and Corporations of which the Ghana Cocoa Board is one.
Hand over
Consequently, the letter from the Office of the President said: “You are directed to hand over your office to His Excellency, the President’s Representative at the Ministry of Agriculture, Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto, and proceed to collect any terminal benefits or facilities due you under the relevant law.”
In view of the urgency attached to the matter, the statement said Dr Opuni was to ensure that he handed over and ceased to act as Chief Executive of the Ghana Cocoa Board not later than 5 p.m. on January 13, 2017.
Dr Opuni was appointed Chief Executive of the Ghana Cocoa Board on November 30, 2013, having worked at the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) as Chief Executive from April 2009.
Prior to working at the FDA, he worked at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) in Kumasi.
Who is Opuni?
Dr Opuni is a medical doctor who studied Medicine in the Vitebsk State Medical Institute in the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) and graduated as Doctor of Medicine in June 1991.
He worked at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital in Kumasi from June 1992 until June 1999 and later joined the Department of Trauma and Reconstructive Surgery at the University of Ulm Medical Faculty in Germany in June 1999 where he specialised as a Trauma and Reconstructive Surgeon.
He returned to Ghana in July 2003 and worked at the KATH in the Department of Surgery as a consultant. He was appointed as Head of the Accident and Emergency Directorate of the hospital in 2007. He is a Fellow of the Ghana College of Surgeons.
Allegations
During the transitional period, there were allegations that Dr Opuni was shredding documents in his office.
Those allegations were spearheaded by the Member of Parliament (MP) for Assin Central, Mr Kennedy Agyapong, who, during a number of radio interviews, alleged that Dr Opuni was doing so to thwart moves by the new government to ask him to account for his stewardship.
Apart from serving as CEO, he was also the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Cocoa Marketing Company (CMC) Ghana Limited, the Cocoa Marketing Company UK Limited (CMC-UK), as well as the Quality Control Company Limited (QCC) of the Ghana Cocoa Board.
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