The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), Dr. Randy Abbey, has made some claims about COCOBOD’s financial position and debt burden.
Speaking on Channel One’s Point of View on February 9, 2026, he said:
“Year-end 2024, so that is then what I took over, what I inherited. I mean, I had a debt of 32.9 billion cedis…COCOBOD had a negative equity of 3.8 billion. End of year 2016, COCOBOD had a positive equity of about 1.8 billion cedis. 2024 year-end negative equity of 3.8 billion cedis, almost 3.9 billion.” (watch from 6 mins:19 secs).
GhanaFact noted that the COCOBOD boss made similar statements on TV3’s Keypoints programme.
This report seeks to verify whether COCOBOD’s
- Equity position at the end of 2016 was GH¢1.8 billion
- Equity position at the end of 2024 was negative GH¢3.8 billion
- Debt at the end of 2024 was GH¢32.9 billion
Fact-Check
According to the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) “Equity is the residual interest in the assets of the entity after deducting all its liabilities.” In simple terms, it is the total assets minus the liabilities.
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- What was COCOBOD’s equity position in 2016?
To verify these claims, GhanaFact reviewed COCOBOD’s annual reports. The 2016/2017 annual report shows a total equity of GH¢305,242,000.
None of these figures in the annual reports supports the claim that the 2016 equity stood at GH¢1.8 billion. However, when GhanaFact contacted the CEO for clarification, Dr Abbey stated that “the 2016 figures are from our (COCOBOD) signed audited Financials.”
He also shared a document titled: ‘Statement of Financial Position’ as at September 30, 2018, which shows total equity of GH¢1,795,761,000 (approximately GH¢1.8 billion) in 2016.
This indicates that the GH¢1.8 billion figure reflects a later financial position, which is different from what was captured in the 2015/2016 or 2016/2017 annual report figures published on the COCOBOD website.
Verdict
The claim that COCOBOD had a positive equity position of GH¢1.8 billion at the end of 2016 is true.
- What was COCOBOD’s equity position and debt in 2024?
COCOBOD’s 2024 annual report was not available on its official website at the time of this report.
GhanaFact therefore reviewed the 2024 State Interests and Governance Authority (SIGA) report, which states that: “COCOBOD reversed to a negative equity position (GHS1,985.27 million in FY2024).”
We shared this finding with Randy Abbey, who clarified that the SIGA’s “account is always qualified with FY2023/2024 instead of only FY2024. In practice, this signifies that their account comprises periods in both 2023 and 2024 and not for 2024 only.”
He also stated that COCOBOD’s 2024 audited financial statements are not yet ready, indicating that the 2024 figures on both equity and debt are based on unaudited financial reports.
Therefore, no publicly available statement supports or confirms Randy Abbey’s claim that COCOBOD had a debt of 32.9 billion cedis and a negative equity of 3.8 billion at the end of 2024.
Verdict
Therefore, the claim that COCOBOD had a debt of 32.9 billion cedis and a negative equity of 3.8 billion at the end of 2024 is UNPROVEN.
Unproven per our verdict scale means “Evidence publicly available at this time neither proves nor disproves the statement. More research is needed.”
By Nusrat Essah
