Komenda Sugar Factory must not fail – Nduom

The Komenda Sugar Factory must not fail, leader and founder of the Progressive People’s Party (PPP) Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom has said.

“We want this new Komenda Sugar Factory to succeed. The failure of the old factory brought prolonged unemployment, early death, and desperation. Some of the people who caused the old factory to fail did not consider the fact that real people's lives and livelihoods were at stake. A lot of them only considered the politics of something put there by an opposing political party. We hope that this time, God will punish anyone who plays politics with the people over this new factory whether they are in government or in the opposition. Politics should be about development and improving the lives of people and not about the pedestrian objective of winning an election,” Dr Nduom posted on Facebook.

“It is for this reason that I have been asking for several months now what is being done to guarantee adequate and cost-effective raw material – sugarcane – for this factory. It is why I want to know what measures government has put into place to ensure price competitiveness for this factory's produce. How will this factory compete with imports? How will it survive a future change in government?”

The businessman and Chairman of Groupe Nduom, a conglomerate, revealed that his company has acquired land and was ready to produce sugarcane to feed the factory hence his desire to see the factory succeed.

“Our company has acquired land near the factory and we are ready to grow sugarcane so when and where can we get the right sugarcane to plant? We have invested in equipment to take output from the factory and market it through transformation. Our investment will come to nought if the factory fails. So when some of us offer suggestions, or criticise what is going wrong, we mean well. We have our self-interest at heart and the people's welfare in mind,” he said.

Minority MPs have criticised the early commissioning of the sugar factory. They said in a press conference that the inauguration was purely for political expediency, since there are a lot of challenges to be surmounted before the plant could be fully functional.

Government began revamping the factory, which had been closed down years ago, in 2014. President John Mahama on Monday May 30 inaugurated the plant, which is expected to provide over 7,000 jobs to Ghanaians.