Two people were each given a six-month prison term by the Juaso Circuit Court for falsifying and selling agrochemicals that belonged to Apostle Kwadwo Sarfo. The two, identified as trader Kwadwo Effah and driver Emmanuel Ayivi, were also given a GH6,000 fine and warned that failure to pay could result in a two-year prison sentence. The two admitted guilt to two charges of conspiring to sell someone else’s product and illegally reproducing someone else’s product, according to the Ghanaian Times newspaper of July 10, 2023. James Nsiah, the chief security officer of the Kristo Asafo Church in the Ashanti Region, was identified as the complainant by the prosecutor, Chief Inspector Dela Amenuvor, in the court presided over by Nana Asantewaa Atakorah. C/Insp informed the court that although Apostle Kwadwo Safo, the founder and leader of the Kristo Asafo Church, had produced some agro-chemicals that had not yet been used, dishonest individuals had been producing and selling identical goods under the name “Akate-Suro Africa Star,” the label of the church’s leader. The prosecution informed the court that a warning was given to churchgoers across the nation to be on the lookout for the offenders in order to put a stop to the illegal behavior. According to the prosecuting attorney, C/Insp. Amenuvor, one of the accused, Ayivi, approached a witness in the case on June 22 at around 7:30 AM with some agricultural pesticides bearing the Apostle Kwadwo Safo label. When the witness asked where the chemicals came from, he mentioned the other accused, Effah, prompting the witness to get in touch with the complainant, James Nsiah, who set up Ayivi’s arrest. Ayivi helped the police apprehend Effah as he was driving an agrochemical delivery taxi with the license plate GS 9159. At the time of the arrest, the police seized 13 unlabeled chemicals, 24 labelled bottles of agrochemicals, and 87 pesticide powders from the taxi. Kwadwo Effah acknowledged in his caution statement that he and Ayivi had made copies of the goods and sold them to farmers without the original producers’ consent.
