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General news for Thursday, October 22, 2020
Source: GNA
2020-10-22
Dr. Stephen Opuni, Former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD)
Dr. Emmanuel Yaw Osei-Twum, the fifth prosecution witness in the trial involving Dr. Stephen Opuni and two other people, says the Lithovit liquid fertilizer sent for testing was diluted.
“We concluded that the solution was very dilute,” he said.
Dr. Osei-Twum, who is a professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Ghana, presenting his chief testimony led by Mr. Evelyn Keelson, the chief state attorney, said in April 2017 that the Department had a request from economic and organized crime. Office (EOCO) to analyze a sample for them.
He said the sample was a liquid sample of Lithovit fertilizer in a plastic bottle and that in May of the same year they performed the analysis.
He said that based on the terms, they were to determine the components available in the sample and find out how much of each was in the sample.
He said that the Department should also inform EOCO if the submitted sample was fertilizer or not.
Dr. Osei-Twum said they prepared the sample by treating it with acid and subjected it to what was called acid absorption spectroscopy and the rest was to calculate to find out how many of its components were present.
Ms. Keelson asked the witness to tell the court the result of the analysis and the witness said that “we found 3.22% calcium carbonate, 0.48% magnesium carbonate, while other compounds are very low in amounts “.
The Prosecutor’s Office presented a document for the witness to identify, which according to the witness was the report presented to EOCO.
The State Attorney asked the witness, who in the Department carried out the analysis and Dr. Osei-Twum said that the principal analysts were Professor Augustine Kwame Donkor and himself and that it was signed by Dr. Louis Doamekpor, Head of the Department .
When asked to explain page six of the report, the witness said that the first column from the left was labeled as a parameter and was supposed to determine the Lithovit components for which the literature was made.
“We subsequently obtained the Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) which confirmed what we have found in the literature,” he said.
Explaining further, Dr. Osei-Twum, associate professor at the University of Ghana, said the results indicated that all components in percentages were very low.
He said that looking at page 8 of the report, Lithovit was a nano-fertilizer and was used as an alternative to conventional fertilizer on vegetable, citrus, cotton and rice crops.
“The sample brought to the Department by EOCO was identified as Lithovit fertilizer,” he added.
He said that the application of Lithovit in Cacao farms from the nursery to the growth and yield stages, remained experimental because there is currently no evidence of its application in Cacao plants.
The speaker said that based on his recommendation, preliminary research should be done before widespread use.
He said that since Lithovit was base, it was advisable to avoid acidic soil, therefore the pH of all soil in the cocoa growing area must be determined before using lithovit.
He said that the composition on the MSDS had calcium carbonate as 84.5 percent, but his analysis had calcium carbonate as 3. 22 percent, while the magnesium carbonate was 4. 6 percent and his test results were 0.48 percent.
The witness ended his testimony in chief when Mr. Samuel Cudjoe, attorney for Dr. Opuni, questioned him.
Mr. Cudjoe asked the witness if he knew the accused, but he answered in the negative.
He was asked if the sample analyzed by the Department had any connection to the first defendant, Dr. Opuni, but the witness said, “I don’t know him.”
“Did A1 give you the sample that your Department tested?” Mr. Cudjoe asked, but the witness told the Court that he had never met the accused or any of his representatives.
The Attorney asked the witness if he was a member of the permanent staff of the Department and he answered affirmatively.
Mr. Cudjoe said that the witness had passed retirement age and could not continue in the position, but the witness said that the tests were conducted by them and that he was still a permanent staff, but that at present, he was a lecturer part time.
He asked the witness if EOCO informed him before the test, but he said he was not informed.
The attorney pointed out to the witness that the Department was informed about the investigation that EOCO was doing, but the witness said that if the Department had been informed, then whoever could have been informed should be the Head of the Department.
Mr. Nutifafa Nutsukpui, the lawyer for Seidu Agongo and Agricult Ghana Limited, asked the witness if he and a Donkor professor wrote the report and said that they prepared the report.
He asked the witness to tell the court what he meant by preparing the report and the witness said they gathered the data, formatted the data, and prepared the data in a way that the report should be written.
When asked who wrote the report, the witness said that the Department had a secretary, who wrote reports for scientists.
If the witness reviewed the report, he answered yes.
The Attorney asked the witness if he knew that in addition to Cacao, COCOBOD regulated other crops, but the witness answered negatively.
Dr. Opuni and Mr. Seidu Agongo face 27 charges, which include defrauding under false pretenses, intentionally causing financial losses to the state, money laundering, corruption by a public official, and violation of the Public Procurement Law.
Both have pleaded not guilty to the charges and are subject to a self-recognition bond of ¢ 300,000.00 GH each.
The trial was postponed until October 27, 2020 for further questioning by Mr. Nutsukpui.
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