The Industrial and Commercial Workers’ Union (ICU) Ghana has called on the government to support the revival of struggling State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) as part of efforts to rebuild the economy and create sustainable employment opportunities.

The union said restoring these enterprises would not only provide jobs for thousands of Ghanaians but also promote industrialisation, increase local production, conserve foreign exchange and contribute significantly to the country’s socio-economic transformation.

At its 65th Regular National Executive Council (NEC) meeting in Accra on Friday, the union identified companies such as Volta Star Textiles Limited, Akosombo Industrial Company Limited (AICL), Neoplan Ghana Limited and Aluworks as strategic national assets that required urgent attention.

In a communique issued after the meeting and signed by the General Secretary, Morgan Ayawine, and the National Chairman, Noble Al-Haji Nuru-Deen, the ICU Ghana said it believed the government would not allow such important enterprises to deteriorate further at a time when thousands of young Ghanaians remained unemployed.

The union argued that the revival of these companies would help address the country’s unemployment challenge, particularly among graduates from universities, tertiary institutions and skills training centres who had remained without jobs for between five and 10 years.

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It cited Volta Star Textiles Limited, which was once a major producer of grey fabric for Ghanaian textile manufacturers, as an example of a company facing decline despite the continued importation of similar raw materials with scarce foreign exchange.

The ICU Ghana said restoring the company, following President John Dramani Mahama’s recent visit to the facility during his Resetting Ghana Tour, would strengthen local industrial production and reduce the country’s dependence on imports.

The union also expressed concern about the declining fortunes of AICL, one of Ghana’s leading textile manufacturers, while the country continued to import large quantities of foreign textile prints.

“Furthermore, Neoplan Ghana Limited, which still has an idle manufacturing plant and an unemployed skilled workforce, continues to see millions of foreign exchange spent on importing buses from abroad, creating jobs for foreigners instead of Ghanaian employment,” the communique stated.

The ICU Ghana said the situation undermined local production and resulted in the loss of valuable employment opportunities.

“The Union is convinced that Your Excellency fully appreciates the urgent need to recapitalise and revive these strategic enterprises to restore industrial production, create sustainable employment, reduce the country’s dependence on imports, conserve foreign exchange, and strengthen Ghana’s national economy,” it said.

‎On the Volta Aluminium Company Limited (VALCO), the ICU National Executive Council revisited the Government’s intention to off-load a 70 percent equity stake in VALCO to a private investor and respectfully renewed its earlier appeal to President Mahama, for the proposed sale to be halted.

"Knowing Your Excellency as a listening President who places premium value on the indigenization and strategic ownership of key national assets, we respectfully urge you to give favourable consideration to our appeal and ensure that VALCO retains its proud status as a strategic national asset for the benefit of present and future generations of Ghanaians,” the resolution noted.

The union noted that several state-owned enterprises with significant productive potential had become dormant over the years, but could be revived through targeted investments, recapitalisation and strategic policy interventions.

It said such measures would enable the companies to generate thousands of jobs, stimulate industrial growth and contribute meaningfully to national development.