Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, the minister of works and housing, is blaming the minority in parliament for impeding the Komenda Sugar Factory’s operationalization.
He claims that the government’s attempts to secure tax breaks for the Komenda Sugar Development Company Limited to bring semi-processed sugar into the nation in order to start up the facility are being resisted by the Minority.
In order to get the tax exemptions so that the plant may start up, he has made a plea to the Komenda Traditional Council to speak with the Minority.
During his recent visit to the area to assess the coastal defense project, he casually made this claim.
I want to be clear that he lied to the Chiefs of Komenda Traditional Area on purpose. Regarding the Komenda Sugar Factory, nothing is on the agenda for Parliament to consider. The government’s decision to import semi-processed food is economically absurd and would devastate local farmers and youth because it goes against the logic behind the factory’s establishment of import substitution, even though there isn’t a request for tax waivers before Parliament.
He claimed to be well-informed on the actions taken to get the sugar mill operating, and I would like to ask him a few pointed questions that require clarification.
Is he aware that the previous administration established a 125-acre nursery plantation, from which the seed canes were supposed to be transplanted onto 10,000 acres by February 2017? In response to his insensitive government’s refusal to operationalize the factory, his government sold the overgrown sugarcanes on that 125-acre plot to Akpeteshie distillers.
- Is he also aware that, for a period of ten years, the government of Ghana has entered into a contractual arrangement with West Africa Agro-Tech Company Limited (WAATCO) to run the factory?
- Is he aware that the monthly payment to WAATCO for the management services is US$50,000?
- Has K. T. Hammond let him know that he intends to lease WAATCO the factory?
Since taking office, the NPP government has not planned to operate the sugar factory; instead, it has only intended to continue misleading the locals and making up reasons not to do its work. In this case, the government need to be held accountable for knowingly causing the state to suffer financial loss by choosing to let the cutting-edge investment expire without a valid justification.
They have caused financial harm to the State by neglecting the factory, wasting time, being ineffective, and making poor decisions.
Additionally, they allowed the national asset to be purposefully undermined in order to place the blame on their political rival.
I firmly reiterate that the Komenda Sugar Factory, which was bequeathed to the Akufo Addo/Bawumia led administration, was always viable, economically productive, and extremely suitable to provide jobs and related benefits to the good people of Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abirem, Central Region, and Ghana as a whole, just as I have always done in the face of evil propaganda, lies, and smear campaigns against the Komenda Sugar Factory, which was built by John Mahama.
They have no positive intentions for the decent citizens of Komenda. They have malicious intentions against the factory and have never appreciated the concept that the NDC government chose to locate this factory in Komenda.
The youth of Komenda must rise against the deception of the government because the future is now.
