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Former Director of Communications & Strategy for the Komenda Sugar Factory, Mr. Ransford Vanni-Amoah, has rubbished statements made by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo that government is in the process of finding a strategic investor to revive the “debt-ridden and idle” Komenda Sugar Factory as “untrue and lack of political will” to operate the factory.

According to him the government under ex-President John Dramani Mahama handed over every document concerning the factory to this current government including strategic investors who were ever ready to partner government to finance the project.

“ . . It is captured in our handing over note that we gave them that, yes, there are eleven different investors both local and foreign ready to partner government realize the purpose of the project,” he said.

Therefore, he sees the turn around by government to start everything afresh as if the NDC started nothing to be continued as a political gimmick to paint the past government black.

“President Akufo-Addo and his government have intentionally thrown that report away due to their lack of political will to operate the factory under a document the past government handed them,” he asserted in an interview with Citi FM news.

BACKGROUND

President Akufo-Addo during his Friday, 14th September, 2018, firsthand visit to the Komenda Sugar Factory stressed thE need for a strategic investor to operate the factory because his administration, upon assuming office on 7th January, 2017, inherited a non-operational Komenda Sugar Factory.

He was addressing a durbar of chiefs and people of Komenda, in the Central Region at the commencement of his 4-day tour of the Region.

The President noted that, after its commissioning in 2016, the Komenda Sugar Factory has not undertaken any commercial processing of sugarcane into sugar, due to serious deficiencies in the planning of the project.

These deficiencies, he said, include the unavailability of sugarcane in sufficient quantities in the catchment area, as well as inadequate working capital required to make the factory functional.

Additionally, it has also been determined that the general soil condition of the available land is not wholly suitable for sugarcane cultivation, and will require substantial amounts of fertilizer input to improve the yields.