A lawyer at the Department of Marketing and Corporate Strategy of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Dr. Samuel Yaw Akomeah, is demanding why the public sector cannot make profit when they are in active business.
Dr. Yaw Akomeah cannot understand why state owned companies are collapsing whilst those in the private sector are thriving in the same business environment.
According to him, he is asking these questions because Cadbury, a cocoa processing company, is making profit but same cannot be said about Cocoa Processing Company (CPC), which is state owned.
“What is the secret behind the operations of those who are making profit? What demon is in the public sector that they cannot make profit?” he asked
He was speaking at an event dubbed – ‘KSB Business and Policy Review Series’, which was organised by the KNUST and the Carisca Career Service Office under the theme: ‘The Industrial Transformation of Ghana: Strategic Priorities.’
According to Dr. Yaw Akomeah, Cocoa Processing Company (CPC), the makers of Golden Tree Chocolate have not been able to make profit in the last 20 to 25 years, having been established in 1965.
“CPC was established in 1965 to produce chocolate and value added cocoa. This company became a limited liability company in 1981. They were part of COCOBOD and COCOBOD weaned them off to be on their own. This company has never made profit for the last 20 to 25 years.”
To Dr. Akomeah, if cocoa processing was to be making profit, Ghana could have refused granting license to all those companies that came in later. He has, therefore, asked the next president to find an antidote to this chronic challenge.
Dr. Akomeah also contended that access to market has been a big issue in Ghana. According to him, farmers produce rice and yet do not get buyers.
To him, the government could have bought these rice and distribute them to the Prisons, Senior High Schools, Hospitals and so on, yet government is not doing so.
The Chief Executive Officer of the Association for Ghana Industries (AGI), Mr. Seth Twum-Akwaboah, on his part noted that Industrial transformation was crucial for Ghana, but the issue of energy security must first be addressed.
Industrial development, according to him, hinges on energy security, human resources and continuous innovation and among others.
He described Ghana’s industralisation drive as very weak, emphasising that the nation imports almost all raw materials.
