Residents of Komenda are preparing to protest against the leasing of the sugar factory to an Indian firm next week.

The locals argue that this move will deprive them of the employment opportunities they anticipated since the facility was built.

This follows an announcement by Minister K.T. Hammond about plans to lease the Komenda Sugar Factory to West African Agro Limited, an India-based firm, for a renewable term of 15 to 20 years.

Speaking on Top Story, the Concerned Citizens of Komenda Traditional Area expressed their expectation that the government would buy sugar cane from local farmers.

However, the new management plans to import semi-refined sugar to process into white sugar, rather than supporting local production.

Convenor, Samuel Awudza worried that "the work that the farmers here are supposed to be doing, you are outsourcing that work to Indian farmers."

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"We think that the government is about to pay jobs for us. We are farmers. We always cultivate sugar cane. And you've promised us, a lot of people even took loans from banks to expand their farms with the hope that Komenda Sugar Factory will be operational for them to get jobs to do."

"So if you want to kick out all these people and then, rather import brown sugar from India to Komenda then and refine to white sugar, then what employment are you creating?" he quizzed on Tuesday.

Mr Awudza says the group has notified the police about it already.

Despite the police's advice to call off the strike, the convernor told Evans Mensah that "as it stands now unless we see a court order, we have a go-ahead to go for the demonstration."

Meanwhile, sugar cane out-growers have given government a one-week ultimatum to engage members to explain to them arrangements to procure their sugar cane for the factory in Komenda.

National Executives, led by their National Chairman Samuel Mensah, held an emergency press conference to express their strong disapproval of the government's decision to import semi-refined sugar for the operation of the facility without first engaging them.