Dr Stephen Opunis Alleged Mess At FDA Comes Back To Haunt Ghanaians

A leadership mess created at the Ghana Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) by its former C.E.O Dr. Stephen Opuni has come back to bite Ghanaians in the form of a judgment debt amounting to a whooping Ghc 94 Million Ghana Cedis.

The judgment debt against the FDA was delivered on July 29th 2024 at the Accra High Court General Jurisdiction 9 division presided over by Justice Audrey Kocuvie-Tay.

TOBINCO Pharmaceuticals LTD. brought the suit against the FDA on July 19th 2019 to recover damages from the FDA for actions the FDA and its former chief executive officer Dr. Stephen Opuni took against the organization in 2013.

While acting as the head of the FDA, Dr. Stephen Opuni confiscated pharmaceutical products of TOBINCO LTD, banned the sale of some drugs, locked up its warehouses and destroyed some of its drugs without an order from any court. Dr. Opuni also caused the arrest and forced confession of the organization’s C.E.O. by the NIB.

These actions were taken against the Ghanaian-owned organization with the excuse that TOBINCO were selling expired drugs and importing ‘fake’ pharmaceutical products. The action of Dr. Opuni caused massive damage to the reputation and business of the Ghanaian-owned organization which decided to take legal action against the FDA on July 29th 2019 when Dr. Stephen Opuni was no longer head at the FDA.

In an explicit judgment on the 29th of July 2024, after several years of litigation, the Accra High Court decided that Dr. Stephen Opuni acted with impunity during his time as head of the FDA against TOBINCO Pharmaceuticals LTD. The court therefore granted all the reliefs sought by TOBINCO against the FDA amounting to a whopping 94 million Ghana cedis.

The 11 years old acts of impunity by Dr. Stephen Opuni against a Ghanaian-owned organization have not only come back to bite Ghanaians in the pocket, it has also caused significant damage to the reputation of the FDA whose current leadership bears no responsibility whatsoever for today’s judgment debt against the authority.

In an attempt to twist the issues and divert attention, Dr. Stephen Opuni-controlled newspapers such as the Herald and others have rather put out fake stories that seek to blame the current leadership at the FDA for a judgment debt occasioned by the impunity of Dr. Stephen Opuni who coincidentally is currently standing criminal trial for his alleged unlawful actions years later as head of the Ghana cocoabod.

It is legitimate to ask whether or not it is a coincidence that the same Dr. Stephen Opuni whose unlawful actions at the FDA have now caused the Ghanaian taxpayer millions of Ghana cedis in judgment debt is at the same time standing criminal trial for causing financial loss to the state as head of cocobod?

There are those whose role in public office only leaves a trail of bad choices and decisions that end up hurting all of us.

It is significant to make the point that this current whooping judgment debt against the FDA bears the face, name and signature of Dr. Stephen Opuni who, perhaps, should also stand another criminal trial for causing financial loss to the state at the FDA because of his disregard for the law.


Courage Alomasor