Former NPP Presidential aspirant Dr. Arthur Kennedy has castigated policy think tank -IMANI Ghana- over their pessimism towards the Komenda Sugar Factor.

According to him, claims by the vice president of IMANI Kofi Bentil that the company will not survive is unfortunate and baseless.

The outspoken deputy head of IMANI has said the factory which was recently commissioned by President John Mahama will “produce more propaganda than sugar”.

He claims no comprehensive study was conducted on the viability of the company, hence his conviction that it will fail.

But in a statement, the medical doctor said it is shameful for IMANI to take such a hostile approach towards a new company.

“These days, sometimes, more propaganda comes out of IMANI than policy. And that is a shame. It used to be a great think thank” he wrote.

Dr. Kennedy believes the President must be commended for reopening the company after it was collapsed many years ago.

Below are details of the statement

KOMENDA SUGAR FACTORY

President Mahama has commissioned the above. Judging from comments, one would think he did something wrong. That is unfortunate. This parade of worthless comments was capped by IMANI think tank's Kofi Bentil when he opined on Newsfile today that the new factory would produce "more propaganda than sugar". Really, Kofi? How would you know?

These days, sometimes, more propaganda comes out of IMANI than policy. And that is a shame. It used to be a great think thank.

Then the Minority spokesperson on Agriculture, the esteemed Dr. Afriyie Akoto, made some confusing pronouncements. He wondered how the government would get 1200 metric tones of sugar per day. Honourable, by encouraging the farmers to grow it!!That is the same model the Pwalugu tomato factory was based on, remember?As to his point that the factory will not solve all the sugar import needs of Ghana, it is baffling.

The idea that we should not solve part of our sugar import needs until we can solve all of it is not worthy of the Honourable MP. Whatever portion of the 200 million USD we can save from sugar imports is good. Indeed, earlier in the week, the minority in parliament had wisely supported the idea of having the factory while raising legitimate questions. That was after Dr. Nduom had also raised questions about the viability of the factory. His questions were substantive and on point, his tone notwithstanding.

We should be excited by this new factory. It follows the Kufuor model for reviving the Aluminum industry and for re-activating the Pwalugu tomato factory.

It actualizes the NPP flag-bearer ' s view that we should add value to our raw materials.

It is a tacit admission by the NDC that selling the KOMENDA sugar factory and others to private interests at "donkomi" prices was a mistake.

It will revive sugar cane production and bring wealth to farmers while hiring thousands of factory hands.

It will save us foreign exchange that otherwise would have gone to the importation of sugar.

Until there is evidence that it is being managed badly, let us celebrate it, together with the President who built it.