Probe all divested companies - Effah-Dartey

Capt. Nkrabeah Effah-Dartey (Rtd), Deputy Minister of Local Government and Rural Development on Tuesday called on Government to set up a probe to investigate all divested companies to ensure transparency and accountability.

He said there was the need for a searchlight to be thrown on activities of the Divestiture Implementation Committee to check who bought them, how much was involved, how much was paid and the balance to the state.

Capt. Effah-Dartey said this in hid contribution to a statement made by Seth Dankwa Wiafe, NPP-Akwapim South on "Post Harvest losses of agricultural produce in the Akwapim South District due to the closure of the Nsawam Cannery Company Limited."

The Deputy Minister said there was the need for government to reassess itself and withdraw from private participation, especially at this era of Golden Age of Business and to lend credence to activities of the State Enterprises Commission.

Wiafe said the Nsawam Cannery was the principal consumer of the produce of the area but was placed on the divestiture by the previous government even though it was a profit-making venture. He said immediately the new company, CARIDEM took over the equipment of the cannery meant for the production of alcoholic drinks were dismantled and sold out and the workforce reduced and eventually closed down.

Wiafe said the factory no longer produced anything and raw materials such as pineapples got rotten daily and called on the government to do something now because the closure of the factory was creating a problem of unemployment, loss of foreign exchange and post-harvest losses.

He said the factory could be converted to produce pineapple concentrates that could be exported and had the potential of canning fruits of all kinds since the retrenched workers were all ready to go back and work towards the revival of the factory.

The member said the opening of the factory would take a lot of the youth of Nsawam and the surrounding villages off the street because apart from selling bread, they had no means of livelihood.

Wiafe said the closure of the factory had also increased criminal activities in the district and appealed to the government to come to the aid of the people by re-opening the cannery within the shortest time to create jobs for the youth.

Isaac George Amoo, NPP- Ayawaso West Wuogon entreated the Ministry of Food and Agriculture and the Divestiture Implementation Committee (DIC) to take a second look at the divested companies and industries to find out how far they were functioning.

David Apasera, PNC-Bolgatanga said the manner in which the previous government went about divesting most of the companies raised a lot of questions but because of the conditions given by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund the exercise was allowed to continue.

He said people were used to selling and not manufacturing or processing and that had crippled most of the companies leading to their divestiture that could have been done gradually adding that government should find the needed funds to revamp the abandoned factories that were still viable.

Dominic Nitiwul, NPP-Bimbilla asked government to take a firm stand on the divested companies and questioned why it was not acting about the fate of the divested companies when they were not productive.

Osei-Kyei-Mensah Bonsu, NPP-Old Tafo Suame said there was the need for a second look to be taken at the disposal of national assets and for re-examining the principles of the divestiture of state companies.

J.H. Mensah, Senior Minister and NPP- Sunyani East said the problem of divestiture was the inability to manage state assets and utilise them for the benefit of the country. Eugene Atta Agyepong said the divestiture programme had brought in its wake unemployment and hardship to most people and asked for its review.

Charles O. Nyanor, Chairman of the DIC and NPP- Upper Denkyira said most of the divested companies were being investigated to streamline their activities and growth due to the complaints of dubious financing.