Chief executive officer of the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) and veteran broadcaster, Dr Randy Abbey, has refiled a GH¢20 million defamation lawsuit against Kwame Baffoe, popularly known as Abronye DC, the Bono regional chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP).
Dr Abbey, through his lawyer Alex Owoo of Spring Legal Consultancy, refiled the case after the High Court on 19 January 2026 directed him to do so, noting that the action is personal and should not involve COCOBOD’s legal team.
The original lawsuit, filed on 26 August 2025, and the refiled action allege that Abronye DC made “false, malicious and defamatory” statements about Dr Abbey during a public broadcast and on social media.
According to the legal filing, Abronye accused Dr Abbey of misusing state resources and engaging in corrupt practices at COCOBOD.
He claimed that the CEO transported a personal chair in multiple Land Cruisers from Accra to rural cocoa farms, refused to sit on chairs provided by the farmers, and allegedly manipulated internal appointments to facilitate the embezzlement of public funds.
Alleged defamatory comment
In the statement of claim, Abronye is quoted in his local language, TWI, as saying:
“Is it not surprising that when Randy Abbey goes for inspection on the cocoa farms, he has a chair he brings from Accra that he sits on? That is Randy Abbey for you. Pride and arrogance, because the cocoa farmers who pay Randy Abbey, Randy, would not sit on their chairs because they are ugly.
“Randy Abbey is the CEO of COCOBOD. When he goes to see the cocoa farmers, he carries a chair from his office in Accra inside a separate Land Cruiser, the one that carries Randy Abbey’s chair. Ghana COCOBOD buys petrol for that Land Cruiser.
“So, the CEO has one Land Cruiser, his personal aide also has one Land Cruiser, and his chair also takes one Land Cruiser. And the cocoa farmers whose monies have been spent, it is their monies that are used to buy petrol for these Land Cruisers, and that is what he takes to the cocoa farms.
“So when he gets there, they then remove the chair so that he can sit on it because the cocoa farmers who farm the cocoa so that he can be paid his crooked waist, that is what they use to pay him, their chair is very ugly, so he cannot sit on it. That is Randy Abbey for you.
“A CEO who, when he visits the cocoa farmers, has his own chairs, do you think he would respect the cocoa farmers? Or think about you for you to prosper? No, he would not think about you.
“The phenomenon now is that my government is in power and so Randy has brought someone ‘you, we believe that you are a proper NDC so we can work with you to steal because those who were here previously, I do not trust them, so the money that I want to steal, I cannot steal it so let me take another Director of Finance so that we can steal money’.
“The reason why Randy Abbey has changed the Director of Finance and told him to go and stay at home is that he wants someone he can steal money with so he has gone to take his own personal preference and made the person Director of Finance because he is the one he can steal COCOBOD money with to the detriment of the poor cocoa farmer because he has come to steal money and go home.
“So, the former Director who was there as the former Director of Finance, was told to go and stay home for a month and receive pay whilst another Director of Finance is appointed and the same cocoa farmers who you told that the price of cocoa is not good so they should take 128 Ghana cedis (listen to me cocoa farmers, listen to me) Randy Abbey for me.
“The cocoa price that you said is not good, the Director of Finance takes 18,000 a month plus allowances, and everything costs around 25,000, he is at home. 250 million a month in allowances, together with fuel allowance, despite all these, he is sitting at home.”
Reliefs sought
Dr Abbey’s lawyers argue that the allegations are entirely fabricated and designed to tarnish his professional reputation. They claim the statements undermine public trust in government institutions and accountability mechanisms.
The relief sought includes a declaration that Abronye’s statements are defamatory, a full public retraction and apology, removal of all defamatory materials, GH¢20 million in general, punitive, and compensatory damages, a perpetual injunction preventing further defamatory remarks, and legal costs.
The case, initially filed through COCOBOD’s legal team, underscores growing concerns about the circulation of unverified claims in Ghanaian political discourse.
This is not Abronye DC’s first defamation case. In July 2025, Hugh Clement A Brown, acting CEO of the Forestry Commission, sued him for GH¢20 million over allegedly defamatory statements.
