GCCL demands Board of Directors to spearhead its objectives

November 30, 2009
Tamale, Nov. 30, GNA - The management and staff of the Ghana Cotton Company Limited (GCCL) has called on the government to appoint a Board of Directors and a substantive Managing Director to restructure the company to overcome the current challenges facing it.

They contend that government, with the largest shares of 74.28 per cent in the company, had not appointed its part of the members of the board, totalling five, to complete the board.

These and other demands were contained in a proposal to government to support cotton production in the country, especially in the northern parts.

The workers explained that the company had been without a substantive managing director since 2004 and this has had a negative impact on the operations of the company.

The proposal also called on the government to find solutions to the Company's problems, to give it "a new lease of life".

The staff members said, government in its manifesto, promised to find solutions to the daunting challenges facing the cotton industry but was yet to do anything positive to the sector.

They urged the government to take a critical look at the subject with all its political, scientific and socio-economic ramifications, to ensure the sustainability and the productivity of the company.

"The contribution of the industry to the textile industry as well as its potential foreign exchange earner cannot and should not be ignored, particularly in the northern parts of the country", they added.

They said if the industry is revamped, it could contribute to reversing the north-south migration and also as a poverty alleviation strategy, and as such, should be given serious attention.

"Large scale cotton production started in the country in 1968, years before Mali, Burkina Faso, Benin, Togo and La Code d' Voire, but these countries' cotton sector was doing tremendously well while that of Ghana was collapsing", it added.

They said while Ghana managed to produce 36,000 metric tons of seed cotton in 2006/07, Burkina Faso produced a colossal 700,000 metric tons though it has similar geographical features with the three northern regions.

GNA