Komenda Sugar Factory will never die

News outlets report that the Komenda Sugar Factory is on a 20-year lease to Indian investors.

In May 2016 NDC President JD Mahama launched the $ 35 Mio. Project in the middle of the Ghana jungle close to the town of Komenda. Speaking into the cameras of national and foreign media stations JD Mahama, close to the December 2016 General Election, the President said:" This project will generate 7000 direct and indirect jobs."

The factory was never operational. The capacity of the factory was not sustainable as less than needed for a profitable operation. The farmers and lands to grow enough sugar cane to run the factory were not secured (Nordzucker, Europe's second-largest sugar company employs 3500 workers and has contracts with 40.000 sugar roots producers). The 200.000 sugar cane seedlings grown on behalf of the people responsible for the project choose a type of sugar cane with little sugar content not suitable for such a factory.

In June 2017 the EU dropped the guaranteed price for sugar producers. For health reasons, the consumption of crystal sugar in Europe drastically dropped therefore the overproduction was dumped at lower prices onto the African market. Long before the planning of the Komenda Sugar Factory had started these factors were well known.

The import of sugar in 2016 stood at an estimated volume worth around $ 300 Mio. To protect the fragile seedlings Sugar Factory JD Mahama could have drastically on a step-by-step approach reduced the import of sugar and started a campaign for local and regional consumers to prefer the national sugar over foreign imports to level it over a set time to zero. Not all problems in a nation are on the watch of a President. Citizens and interest groups have to take the blame as well where appropriate.

But when a President clearly has made significant mistakes (no court hearings for the Circle disaster 2015, Melcom disaster 2012, etc.) this must be without fear or favor addressed. In developed countries, some Presidents or PMs say sorry for the misjudgment and carry on while others with moral dignity offer their resignation. Ghana, and Africa as a whole, is far from accepting simple principles.

Komenda Sugar Factory will never die in the Ghana jungle but reminds future generations of a dark past.