The state prosecutor, Principal State Attorney Stella Ohene Appiah, appeared to struggle when she confronted the seventh prosecution witness, Peter Okyere Boateng, a seasoned expert on matters related to COCOBOD.

During the cross-examination, she seemed ill-prepared to challenge the witness's testimony, allowing him to effectively educate her on the intricacies of COCOBOD's operations.

Peter Okyere Boateng, a former Deputy Executive Director of CHED at COCOBOD, has been testifying in the ongoing trial of former COCOBOD Chief Executive, Dr. Stephen Opuni, and businessman Seidu Agongo.

They are facing charges related to alleged financial loss to the state and violations of the Public Procurement Act in the procurement of Lithovit liquid fertilizer between 2014 and 2016.

During the proceedings on Wednesday, Stella Ohene Appiah attempted to undermine the witness's assertion that Lithovit had remarkable effects on farms.

She suggested that Lithovit was not the only fertilizer used by farmers, but her line of questioning appeared ineffective in challenging the witness's expertise.

But Mr. Okyere Boateng, who was in charge of monitoring and evaluation at CHED told the court, “That is not true. We have educated the farmers that, one particular fertilizer is appropriate for one particular farm. No farmer who has been trained by CHED, will mix any type of fertilizer with other fertilizer. The farmers are well educated. This is a technical issue.”

“I’m putting it to you that, not only Lithovit Liquid fertilizer had been applied by the farmers on their farms, but Sidalco and other granular fertilizers have also been used,” prosecution insisted.

The witness replied, “Yes. I have said it here, that COCOBOD gives out different types of fertilizers and it’s a fact. But as I just said, each farmer gets a particular fertilizer be it granular or liquid or foliar for a particular farm. So in my report, I even compared performances of farms that have been applied with different types of fertilizers. But none of the farmers will apply more than one fertilizer on a single farm. Let me explain further that, yes, a particular farmer may get more than one particular fertilizer, but they will be meant for different farms.”

The witness had to take additional time to further enlighten the prosecution, who seemed to draw a distinction between cocoa yields and the production of cocoa.

“As I said, if you talk about CHED, yes, we don’t compile data on cocoa yield. Which is the same as the production that I have talked about. Yield and production are the same. Though at times we may use yield as a unit area production. As I sit here, I know that, the yield on production that was realized during the period of application of LLF, in 2016/2017 was the second highest production in the history of cocoa production in Ghana up to 2019/2020 and the figure was nine hundred and sixty-nine thousand metric tons.”

Again on Thursday, November 9, 2023, Stella Ohene Appiah contested the assertions made by the witness, implying a notable disparity between the fertilizers provided to farmers and the one supposedly tested by the Chemistry Department of the University of Ghana.

“So you see, you have no basis for your statement that the product tested by the University of Ghana is not the same used by farmers,” the prosecution said.

Mr. Okyere Boateng stated, “My Lord what I just said was a basis for me to say that. My Lord in July [2022] I gave evidence, what I said was that, the University of Ghana is my alma mater and that it is an institution of academic excellence, but from the observations, I made in the field, particularly in the cocoa farms on which the Lithovit fertilizer was applied and the high commendations given by the farmers on whose farms the fertilizer was applied, I knew that the fertilizer was a very good product, and therefore it wouldn’t be the same product that was taken to the University of Ghana for testing. My Lord, that is what I said, and I did not go challenging the work of the University of Ghana.”

Simultaneously, the University of Ghana’s test findings faced disapproval from the state's own witness involved in the product, Dr. Emmanuel Yaw Osei-Twum. During his court appearance and under cross-examination, he discredited the report submitted as evidence by the prosecution, highlighting that the document had been altered.

“No we did not. We did not write those in ink, we did not put in those vertical lines. Our original report did not have those,” the state witness said in October 2020.

Moreover, the lithovit sample presented as evidence by the prosecution—asserting it was the exact product tested by COCOBOD’s CRIG—was dismissed by the state's prominent witness, Dr. Yaw Adu-Ampomah.

During cross-examination in November 2019, Dr. Adu-Ampomah, a former Deputy Chief Executive of COCOBOD, contested the exhibit submitted by the Attorney General, affirming that it did not correspond to the lithovit fertilizer he requested CRIG to examine.

“My Lord I don’t know where this [exhibit] is coming from,” Dr Adu-Ampomah told the court, adding, “this is not what came in 2013; I don’t know whether this is the sample that you are showing to me”.