Almost 95 percent of industries established in Tema under Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah’s regime, which formed part of the vision of making Tema a harbour cum industrial city, have collapsed.
Mr Abraham Koomson, the Secretary General of the Ghana Federation of Labour, disclosing this to the Ghana News Agency in an interview in Tema, said those that managed to survive successive governments, were struggling with their operations.
Mr Koomson said the lack of concern for the survival of these companies by successive governments was worrying, and that their existence in the country must be a focus for the Economic Development Team of subsequent governments to ensure a sound economy.
The unionist who was visibly unhappy about the collapse of the companies mentioned some as the Ghana Textile Manufacturing Company Limited (GTMC), Tema Textile Limited (TTL), Tema Food Complex, State Housing Corporation, and the Black Star Line.
Other collapsed firms in Tema are Sanyo, Akasanoma, Pioneer Aluminium, Ghana Aluminium, ICI, BBC, Meat Factory, Mankoadze Fisheries Limited, Africa Motors, Super Paper, and Westcodye Textiles, among others.
He said even though companies such as the Tex Style Limited (GTP), Volta Aluminium Company (VALCO), Tema Oil Refinery (TOR), ALUWORKS, Nestle Ghana Limited, and Steel Works managed to survive, current operational costs and over taxations have left them struggling for survival.
He stated that TOR for instance, was established when Ghana was yet to discover oil, yet, it was doing well, adding that it baffled him as to how such a company had been run down by politicians when the country could give its share of the oil to it to refine.
He recalled that in the textile sector alone TTL at the time, employed over 3,000 people, while GTMC and GTP had about 4,000 and 2,000 workers, respectively.
He indicated that apart from the direct employment for both skilled and unskilled labour in the textile companies in Tema through their productions, they created indirect jobs for cotton farmers and cloth sellers, among others.
“Even the waste from the textile companies served as sources of revenue for people, who came to buy and used it as resources for other products,” the GFL Secretary added.
Mr Koomson attributed the high crime rate within Tema and its environs, and Ghana in general partly to the collapse of such industries and the inability of government to meaningfully engage people, coupled with harsh economic conditions.
Source: GNA