Alan John Kwadwo Kyerematen, the Trade and Industry minister-nominee has explained that the Komenda Sugar Factory is not working because a full test run was never completed before the factory was commissioned on May 30, 2016.

According to him, the reason was from an audit report conducted in October 2017.

Answering questions from the Appointments Committee when he appeared to be vetted, Alan Kyerematen stated: “A number of critical parts of the factory had not been installed. For instance, there should be a crushing plant for crushing sugarcane. There should also be a vertical and horizontal crystallizer and it is only when these components are in place, one can produce white sugar."

Alan Kyerematen was responding to a question posed by Lawyer Francis Xavier Sosu (NDC- Madina MP).

The nominee said a re-evaluation and a forensic audit have been conducted and the sugar factory has been handed over to Agrotech, but for the COVID-19 pandemic, work would have commenced at the factory to ensure that it was fully operationalised.