Residents of Komenda in the Central Region have expressed their intention to stage a protest against the government’s plan to lease the Komenda Sugar Factory to a private company.
The government proposes to lease the Komenda Sugar Development Company Limited to West Africa Agro Limited, an Indian-based firm, for a renewable term of 15 to 20 years.
According to Trade and Industry Minister K.T. Hammond, this move is intended to revive the factory’s operations to meet domestic sugar demand.
However, local residents are strongly opposing this plan.
Samuel Awudzirato, Convenor for Concerned Residents of Komenda, has called on the government to reverse its decision, insisting that the factory should remain fully government-owned.
He is concerned about the negative effects the lease could have on local farmers and the community.
“But I can give you a hint, there will be a demonstration very soon. That I can assure you. We demand that the government doesn’t lease the factory to any entity. The factory is 100% owned by the government. We don’t want the factory to be leased to any company.
“We want the factory to be reverted to the production of sugar, through sugar cane, and not just importing the raw sugar from India and refining it to white sugar.
“That process only takes about 20% of the whole production, which means that we have taken out over 10,000 farmers from the whole value chain, which is going to cause serious problems. And so, we demand that they don’t give it to any entity and revert to the old system of crushing sugar cane to produce sugar,” he said.
Mr Awudzirato emphasized the potential issues with the lease, noting that it could result in a shift from processing locally grown sugar cane to importing raw sugar from India for refinement.
He argued that this would marginalize over 10,000 local farmers who depend on the factory.
Additionally, the minority party in Parliament plans to summon Minister K.T. Hammond to discuss the issue further.
The Komenda Sugar Factory, established in 1964, ceased operations for many years.
In 2016, the previous NDC government secured a $35 million loan from the Indian Export-Import Bank and an additional $24 million investment to rehabilitate the factory.
It is currently in the test run phase before full production begins, with the government’s proposed lease arrangement in the pipeline.