Ghana government official links Wagner to buying country’s smuggled cocoa

A Ghana government official has accused the Russian government backed private military organisation, Wagner of buying smuggled cocoa from the country.

Even though Wagner has been operating in Africa for some time now, this is the first time a government official is linking the group to any activity in Ghana.

Mr Joseph Aidoo, who is CEO of the Ghana COCOBOD, the country’s cocoa exporter was reported by Starr FM to have said these while addressing journalists in Kumasi last Friday on the overwhelming problems of cocoa smuggling that is hitting the country hard.

According to the reports, Mr Aidoo told the reporters that the COCOBOD will engage the country’s military to combat the smuggling.

Mr. Aidoo pointed out that the military’s involvement has become necessary so as to address the issue more effectively. He said the military has expressed its readiness to lead the operation, and the Ministry of Defence is aware, adding that the COCOBOD will sponsor the national Anti-Cocoa Smuggling Programme.

Mr Aidoo told the reporters that the government, through COCOBOD, provides substantial support to cocoa farmers. “This year, we supplied more than enough fertilizers, such as liquid fertilizer, insecticides, and fungicides. COCOBOD also funded the pruning of cocoa farms. If cocoa is smuggled out of the country, how are we going to repay the loans we took to invest in our farmers?” He queried.

The COCOBOD has been saddled with debts and is struggling to raise financing to purchase cocoa for export. Cocoa has been Ghana’s biggest cash crop for many decades, but production bedeviled by many factors including climate change and illegal mining has declined.

Mr Aidoo further stated that Wagner, which is stationed in Burkina Faso, Niger, and other Francophone countries, is involved in buying smuggled cocoa from Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire.

“Russia has been banned from entering the European market, which has led them to resort to smuggling cocoa. Countries like Burkina Faso and Niger, which do not grow cocoa, are now exporting cocoa. Where are they getting it from?” He asked.

He said the COCOBOD would mount a vigorous anti-smuggling campaign to safeguard one of the country’s main foreign exchange earner.

The private paramilitary group, Wagner was started in 2014 by Russian citizen Yevgeny Prigozhi, a close confidant of Russian president, Vladimir Putin. The group is registered in Russia as a ‘Private military company’.

Wagner recruited mercenaries, most of them initially from Russian special forces and other elite units. In 2022, Prigozhin recruited prisoners from Russian jails to fight in Ukraine, in exchange for pardons.

The group has also operated in Syria, Mali, the Central African Republic, Sudan and Libya.

In the conflict ridden Central African Republic where Wagner has a strong presence including providing protection to the country’s president, a number of journalists have been killed while doing their job. Among them are local journalists Elisabeth Blanche Olofio, Désiré Luc Sayenga, and René Padou; French photojournalist Camille Lepage; and three Russian investigative reporters—Orkhan Dzhemal, Kirill Radchenko and Alexander Rastorguyev—who travelled to the country in 2018 to report on the presence of Wagner.

In June last year while fighting in the war against Ukraine alongside Russian troops, some 5,000 Wagner fighters staged a mutiny. They occupied the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, and marched on Moscow declaring that they were on their way to ousting Gerasimov and Shoigu.

But as they marched, Prigozhin halted the advance and made a pact with Putin. The deal was brokered by the Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko. Soon after, Putin said Wagner’s fighters could either join the Russian army or go to Belarus with Prigozhin.

On August 23, 2023, Russian officials announced that  Yevgeny Prigozhin and nine other passengers died when a private jet they were travelling on between Moscow and St Petersburg crashed north of the capital.

By Emmanuel K Dogbevi

The post Ghana government official links Wagner to buying country’s smuggled cocoa appeared first on Ghana Business News.

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