Komenda Sugar factory was commissioned for votes – Minority

The Minority in Parliament has accused the Mahama administration of rushing to commission the Komenda Sugar factory without recourse to how the factory will receive its raw materials for production.

According to the party, government should have started the cultivation of sugarcane, the primary raw material for the factory, before going ahead to open the factory.

Discussing the opening of the factory in Parliament Thursday, Minority member of the House, Professor George Gyan Baffuor said President John Mahama went ahead to commission the factory for a political advantage, as the 2016 elections beckon.

President John Mahama commissioned the Komenda Sugar factory on Tuesday, May 31.

The sugar factory, one of Ghana’s oldest factories, is located in the coastal community of Komenda, near Cape Coast, 144 km west of the national capital.

The EXIM bank invested 35 million U.S. dollars while the government of Ghana provided 1.5 million dollars for the construction.

The factory, originally established by Ghana’s first president Kwame Nkrumah in 1960, was closed down in the 1980s after years of mismanagement.

Ghana now spends at least 200 million dollars annually on sugar imports, thereby contributing greatly to the weakening of Ghana’s local cedi currency.