COTTON FIRM TO UNDERGO RESTRUCTURING (PAGE 29, DEC 8, 2010)

THE government is to restructure the Ghana Cotton Company Limited (GCCL) and make it more viable.
As a result, the government is holding consultations with the International Finance Corporation (IFC), to set out modalities for the exercise.
The proposed modalities involve assessing the company’s debt burden, the viability of the restructuring exercise and the nature of ownership agreement, among others.
The Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr Mahama Ayariga, made this known in Tamale during an interaction with management and staff of the company.
The interaction followed recent industrial action by workers of the company to demand the dismissal of management to pave the way for the formation of an interim management to run the distressed company.
Mr Ayariga said it was the government’s target to put in place effective mechanisms to ensure that the nation produced not less than 30,000 metric tonnes of cotton by next year.
“We are confident that this is achievable through teamwork, transparency and dedication,” he pointed out.
He announced that in order to avoid “cheating of cotton farmers” and to fix realistic prices for cotton, a national committee comprising a team of cotton experts, the IFC, World Bank, Ministry of Trade and Industry, the Ministry of Food and Agriculture would be formed.
Mr Ayariga further explained that the country would be divided into four zones, namely the North Eastern, North Western, North Central and Northern Brong Ahafo and Volta Regions.
He said companies would be invited to engage in serious production of cotton in the four zones to help achieve targets in the industry.
He said activities such as land preparation, farmer mobilisation, input supply, and facilities for the evacuation of cotton from the farms to the ginneries would be undertaken by the selected companies.
The minister entreated workers to suspend their strike and work with their management while government resolved the problem.
The workers indicated that they had lost confidence in the management because of the fact that they “supervised operational losses for the past decade and we do not think they have the capacity to turn around the fortunes of the company”.
They, however, expressed appreciation to the government for the cotton support programme, saying “had it not been for your timely intervention, the company would have been on its knees”.
The workers equally appealed to the government to conduct a forensic audit into the operations of the company over the past 10 years.