Trouble At Wamco... Production section shut down

Sekondi (Western Region) -- The management of the West Africa Mills Company (WAMCO), a Takoradi-based cocoa-processing firm has shut down the production section of the company, which is also a subsidiary of Hamester Group in Germany following the alleged refusal by the Ghana Cocobod to supply them with cocoa beans.

The company, which is operating within the free zone and has a total workforce of 300, has also been prevented from shipping any of its finished products to Germany until the alleged conflict between them, cocobod and government is resolved, chronicle has gathered.

On Thursday last week workers of the company also exacerbated the already tense situation by locking up the German born managing director of the company, Mr. Michael Holzaepfel at the company yard for nearly 12hrs. and prevented him from leaving the premise amid the chanting of war songs.

The workers decision came only three days after Mr. Holzaepfel had met the entire workforce where he reportedly failed to explain in details the seeming conflict between his management and the cocobod, which has led to the closure of the production section of the company.

Mr. Holzaepfel however insists that the action, which was taking, by the workers was not directed at him but their leaders. He said he met the leadership of the workers earlier to negotiate on their condition of service but the entire workforce were not apparently happy with the agreement their leadership reached with management so they began to agitate an in-depth investigation conducted by the Chronicle revealed that in the year 2002, the company applied to cocobod to supply them with 70,000 tones of cocoa at 800 dollars per tone for processing and subsequent export to the parent company in Germany.

Chronicle gathered that due to a short fall in the production of cocoa through out the country last year, the cocobod could only supply between 40 to 45,000 tonnes, which fell far below what the company was expecting from cocobod. Chronicle learnt that though.

WAMCO did not make an advance payment of the 70,000 tonnes they demanded from cocobod last year, they are insisting that the latter supplies them with the last year's difference of over 20,000 tonnes at the same 800 dollars per tonne, which was last year's market price.

This unrealistic demand, chronicle gathered, has been turned down by the cocobod on the grounds since the current world market price of cocoa per tonne is 2,400 dollars their request has no sound basis. Besides this cocobod did not commit itself by taking advance payment from the cocoa company for them to justify their demand for the 800 dollars per tonne, which was last year's price.

This reporter's almost two weeks investigations into the matter revealed that following the insistence of Wamco to pay only last year's price of 800 dollars per tonne cocobod also decided to stop the supply of the cocoa beans to the company which was first established in 1946 by the colonial government.

Chronicle own calculations reveal that if cocobod should succumb to the WAMCO demand and supply them with the remaining 25,000 tonnes they could not supply last year at 800 dollars, the former could be losing close to 40 million dollars in revenue if both 800 and 2400 dollars which were last year and this year's price respectively are multiplied by the 25,000 tonnes and the difference deducted.

Further investigations revealed that due to this misunderstanding between the two among other matters, the cocoa processing company was ordered not to export its finished products till further notice. This order, chronicle gathered, was disregarded by the company which has 40% of its shares owned by the government of Ghana and attempted to ship the products from the country.

The finished products could however not be shipped after it has been packed into containers and transported to the Takoradi port because Customs Excise and Preventing Service (CEPS) refused to process the shipping documents covering the products.

On Wednesday last week chronicle spotted articulated trucks discharging the prevented cocoa products back into the warehouse of the company which is being run by some skeleton staff due to the shutting down of the production unit where the core work is done. Almost all the workers who are in the production section are at the moment resting at home. Those with the administration side have also been going to work on shift basis because they do not have much work to do.

When the managing director of the company, Mr. Michael Holzaepfel was contacted, he confirmed that the production unit of his company where the core work is carried out has been shut down. He also admitted the fact that the current world price of cocoa per tonne is 2400 dollars but they are demanding to pay 800 dollars. He however refused to go into details saying negotiations are still ongoing to resolve the matter.

According to the MD board of directors of his parent company in Germany and the management of the Ghana cocobod have set March 31st this year to find a lasting solution to what he would not like to describe as an impasse. He told the chronicle that if the agreed period comes to pass without any solution to the matter, each party may possibly advice itself. He would however not comment when asked whether we would advice ourselves could mean living the country.

Mr. Holzaepfel further told the chronicle that he did not receive any information from any quarter ordering him not to ship his products. According to him the only information he had was from the local CEPS officials who told him that they could not prepare his shipping documents for treasons he himself did not know. Nevertheless he pleaded with the chronicle to suspend the publication of the story till the March 31st deadline to see if they could reach a compromise.

When the assistant commissioner of CEPS in charge of western region, Mr. E. Doku was contacted he confirmed that his outfit refused to process the shipping document and added that he had already instructed the company to send the finished products back to the factory yard for proper preservation.

According to him his decision not to process the document was based on an order he received from his boss, the commissioner of CEPS in Accra and that he did not know the reasons for his action.