Concerned residents of the Central Region’s Komenda Traditional Area have rejected President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-assertions Addo’s that the Komenda Sugar Factory has been upgraded to produce commercial quantities of sugar for the nation.
The facility has been renovated and will be fully operating in December, according to the president, who was on a visit of the area over the weekend.
Samuel Awugah, the convener for the Concerned Citizens of Komenda Traditional Area, disputes the president’s assertion that the facility will be modernized.
According to him, the factory has not been operating for the last three weeks due to the layoffs of 80% of the workforce.
He added the factory was only powered last Saturday, September 3, 2022, when the president announced his visit to the facility.
Samuel Awugah speaking on the Ghana Yensom morning show hosted by Mr. Emmanuel Quarshie on Accra 100.5 FM on Monday, September 5, 2022, said the factory has been rusting away since it was test-run and shut down for maintenance some seven years ago.
He claimed that it was when the president decided to visit the factory that the management of the factory moved to buy some Akpeteshie sugarcanes to utilise the factory to create the impression the factory was being run.
“Even in the wake of this, the factory only produced some 29 bags of sugar and shut down,†he alleged and questioned that if the management of the factory claims that the factory will be operational by December what raw materials are they going to use?
Also, he noted that the B41 type of sugarcane takes about six months to grow.
“The latest news about production at the factory was a matter of window dressing to impress the president,” he stressed.
He said the over 200 out-growers of the factory are idling about at home because the factory was not working.
He stressed that “as we speak the factory has been shut down.”