The 2024 flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), John Dramani Mahama, has cautioned the prospective buyer of the Komenda Sugar Factory to desist from any non-transparent deals with the incumbent government.

His warning comes after the Minister for Trade and Industry, K.T. Hammond revealed the government’s decision to lease the Komenda Sugar Factory to West African Agro Limited, an India-based firm, for a renewable term of 15 to 20 years.

But speaking at a media engagement in the Volta Region, Mr Mahama expressed concern about how the transaction was shrouded in secrecy.

According to him, the Komenda Sugar Factory is a national asset, therefore, any process to lease it must be transparent.

“I have read about the hurry to lease the Komenda Sugar Factory to an investor. The thing about this government is, they are not transparent in anything they do so I am warning the investor. I hope he’s gone through a transparent procurement process,” he said.

Mr Mahama further emphasised that any deal made without transparency will not be honoured if the NDC returns to power.

“Buyer, beware, whoever that investor is he should be very careful because if the process is not transparent we are not willing to abide by any transfer of the facility,” he cautioned.

The former president further called for an open and fair process to select the best investor to partner with the government in running the factory.

“We must open it up and get the best investor to come and partner with the government to run the factory. So whoever it is, I am sending you a note of caution—I haven’t seen any transparent process in the leasing out of the factory.

“If my government comes into office and we find out that it was some ‘under the table transaction,’ we will not be very cooperative in that regard. And so that is a warning,” he stated.

The $35 million factory was inaugurated by former president John Mahama in May 2016. The project was funded by the Indian EXIM Bank to produce sugar to reduce the importation of the commodity and also create direct and indirect jobs for about 7,300 people along the value chain.

Operations of the factory, however, came to a halt owing to a plethora of challenges after being commissioned by former President Mahama in May 2016.

The factory began to deteriorate until the government, in November 2019, signed a partnership agreement with a Ghanaian-Indian company; Park Agrotech Ghana Limited, expected to pump some $28 million into the project to revive it.