The Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) has refuted reports claiming it donated GH¢12 million to the national football team, the Black Stars, insisting that the claim is “false, misleading, and without any factual basis.”
In a public notice on Thursday, February 26, 2026, COCOBOD stressed that its core mandate remains the welfare of cocoa farmers, including ensuring prompt payments, providing farm inputs, and delivering essential extension services.
The board clarified that at no point were funds intended for farmers redirected to support the Black Stars.
This statement comes amid ongoing discussions about liquidity challenges within the cocoa sector.
In response, COCOBOD recently implemented several measures to manage resources responsibly. These included voluntary salary reductions for executive management and senior staff, the waiver of all sitting allowances for directors, and disbursement of approximately GH¢1.091 billion to Licensed Buying Companies (LBCs) to settle outstanding arrears owed to cocoa farmers.
COCOBOD urged the public to rely only on verified information from its official channels and disregard the misinformation circulating online.
“COCOBOD remains fully committed to its core mandate of prioritising the welfare of cocoa farmers… At no point has COCOBOD diverted funds meant for farmer payments to support the Black Stars,” the notice stated.
