Goats takeover Pwalugu Tomato Factory

NDC CLAIMS TO HAVE REVIVED

Claims by the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) to have revived the Pwalugu Tomato Factory (Northern Star Tomato Factory) in Pwalugu have fallen flat on its face as a visit to the premises of the factory by New Patriotic Party Running Mate, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia and some selected media persons has revealed that the company has totally been abandoned and equipments left to rot at the mercy of the weather.

It would be recalled that in March 2010, the NDC administration indicated through its sector Minister, Hannah Tetteh, that it had revived the Northern Star Tomato factory with an investment of $1.7million, adding that the factory was going to operate at full capacity to process 500,000 tonnes of tomatoes a day.

The Minister after an inspection tour of the factory in March 2010 even indicated that that with the investments yielding so much fruit, the factory was even considering going into the processing of mango and other fruits and vegetables and called on all farmers in the region to go into the production of tomatoes as there is ready market for their produce.

Additionally, the NDC on page 7 of part two of the “Green Book” stated that “Pwalugu Tomato Factory (Northern Star) revamped with a minimum capacity of 250 metric tonnes per day.”

However, the visit to the factory exposed the sorry state of the factory and its equipments. Not only had the factory been totally abandoned with no management, staff or associated worker in sight, on what was supposed to be a busy working day, but many of the equipment at the factory, which were imported by the former Kufuor government before it left power, have been left in a total state of ruin as they have been subjected to the vagaries of rain and the sun.

A careful look at the factory premises would leave no one in doubt that the factory has not worked in many years. The only moving beings or objects on the factory premises were a number of goats who had gladly sought refuge at the abandoned premises and who were going about their activities unrestrained while one could also find a stockpile of corn which had been also left to decay at the premises.

The erstwhile Kufuor administration around 2007 initiated the process of reviving the Pwalugu Tomato factory established under first President Dr. Kwame Nkrumah when it imported and installed equipments worth several millions but could not complete the resuscitation before it left office in January 2009 and it was this process the NDC claimed in 2010 to have finished and production started.

Dr. Bawumia speaking at the factory premises chided the government for focusing more on propaganda and not the real work that needed to be done to improve upon the lives of the people. “I found a similar situation with the shea nut factory in Buipe which was commissioned about 4 months ago and has still not produced an ounce of shea nut and I think it is time we have a very serious approach to our manufacturing and value addition. We should focus less on the propaganda value of these projects and more of the economic value to the people in terms of job creation and exports” he said.