A former member of the Komenda Sugar Project Management Board, Ransford Vanni Amoah, has accused the government of deliberately devaluing the Komenda Sugar Factory to sell it to its affiliates.
Mr Amoah claims that since the New Patriotic Party (NPP) took power in 2016, they have provided numerous excuses which has devalued the factory.
“Since 2016, the NPP has brought a lot of excuses over the Komenda Sugar Factory. It was a deliberate attempt to devalue the factory so that they could sell it to their own people—that is the whole agenda of the government. If not, I don’t understand why in 2019-2020 it was valued at $3.3 million, and now it’s at $1 million,” he said.
His comments follow Trade and Industry Minister K.T. Hammond’s announcement of plans to lease the factory to West Africa Agro Limited, an Indian-based firm, for a renewable term of 15 to 20 years.
The Minister announced during a visit to the factory in the Komenda Municipality, explaining that the lease aims to revitalize the factory’s struggling operations.
Although the government has approved the lease agreement, the final details are still pending.
In an interview on Adom FM’s morning show Dwaso Nsem on Wednesday, Mr Amoah said the government can operate the factory itself.
“My position is that the government can operationalize the factory by itself. There are several other institutions managed by the government, so why should the Komenda factory be leased? The factory was 100% complete when the NPP took over in 2017,” he asserted.
The former board member called for a thorough investigation into the factory’s devaluation and the proposed lease agreement.
“We need to investigate this, and I believe our parliamentarians will not approve such a deal,” he stated.
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