Vice President of Imani Ghana, Kofi Bentil, has stated that the decision to resuscitate the Komenda Sugar Factory was such a bad decision that the Akufo-Addo-led NPP government could not possibly continue the project.
He warned that any money that will be put into Komenda is more money wasted.
According to him, the John Mahama-led National Democratic Congress (NDC) government’s decision on Komenda was only an attempt to revive the image of Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkruma, Ghana’s first President.
Speaking on Newsfile on Saturday, Mr. Kofi Bentil argued that putting up Komenda does not make economic sense because the factory cannot refine sugar that can be sold on the market at an economic price.
He also indicated that the Mahama E-Blocks that the then NDC government began constructing in 2016 before exiting power was a knee-jerk reaction to the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) free SHS promise.
He said, “When we analyzed the E Blocks at the time when they were proposed and analyzed the number of E-Blocks they had to build for that project to be completed before President Mahama left… it was clearly impossible even if we had all the money,” he stated.
He noted that Ghana has a peculiar situation where her politicians are driven by politics and do not conduct the right analysis and just go out and make wild promises.
He said, “Unfortunately, they put our scarce resources behind those promises. When they do that they don’t complete, then the next government comes in. Sometimes out of their own politics they don’t want to complete the projects started.”
“Sometimes, there are also real practical problems with the projects like contractual problems and real practical issues like the Komenda. We cannot refine sugar in Komenda and sell it in the market at an economic price,” he added.
Mr. Bentil noted that such haphazard decisions that stifle the state’s scarce resources can be addressed through the political process with Parliament playing the major role.
The House, he said, can isolate spaces or areas on infrastructure in the budget presented by Presidents and refuse to approve these sections and demand the completion of abandoned projects first.
“The politicians will try to start a new project but through the Parliamentary process that could be stopped,” he added.
He argued that Parliament has the right to reject budgets and ask for things to be reviewed and certain things to be done, especially when it comes to spending and finance.
Source: Mypublisher24.com