A palm oil extraction facility built to create hundreds of direct and indirect jobs at Manso Mem in the Ashanti Region has been left to rot, a year after it was commissioned by the District Assembly.

According to James Osei, the Assembly Member for the area, the facility, commissioned in 2024 by former District Chief Executive Clement Opoku Gyamfi, has remained unused since its inauguration.

Waste of taxpayers' money

The Assembly Member described the situation as a waste of taxpayers' money and called on authorities to take immediate action to make the facility operational.

“This facility was designed to provide a central processing hub for oil palm farmers. It was expected to create hundreds of jobs for the community and surrounding areas, but it has now turned into a white elephant,” he said.

Speaking to OTEC News on Monday, September 29, 2025, Osei noted that the project was meant to transform the lives of farmers, but its current state is a far cry from its intended purpose.

“The facility was meant to transform the lives of farmers, but today you can clearly see it rotting away in the bush,” he lamented.

Challenges facing the facility

One of the major challenges facing the plant is the Assembly’s failure to connect a water system, which is crucial to its operations.

Osei revealed that the machines are rusting due to lack of use, further worsening the situation.

The Assembly Member appealed to the government to take steps to operationalise the facility in order to save the state from wasting additional resources.