The Parliamentary Candidate of the Progressive People's Party (PPP) in the Navrongo Central Constituency, Susana Agoriba Kubirizegah, says the PPP government will revamp the Pwalugu tomato factory to create more employment opportunities for the youth.

She said the factory would also encourage tomato farmers across the Region to increase production.

“Navrongo is a farming community, we farm a lot of rice and tomatoes but tomato farming has declined because there is no market.”

Taking her turn to answer questions on how she intends to tackle the issue of unemployment when voted as Member of Parliament (MP) for the area, at a Parliamentary Candidate’s dialogue in Navrongo, she said with the support of other MPs she would lobby for the factory to be revamped.

The Pwalugu tomato factory, located in the Talensi District of the Upper East Region is also known as the Northern Star Tomato Factory, which stopped operations several years ago even though politicians over the years made promises to revive the defunct factory.

The Ghana News Agency, gathered that about 300 workers of the Factory were laid off, while about 1,250 tomato farmers from communities in the Region who cultivated tomato to feed the factory were also out of job.

Madam Kubirizegah stressed that “I will lobby with the support of other MPs to revamp the Pwalugu tomatoes factory so that it will boost tomato farming, and this will create jobs for the youth and everybody.”

She said apart from the Party’s quest to revive the factory, “We the PPP, led by Madam Brigitte Dzogbenuku, will establish rice factory in Navrongo so that we will be able to produce Navrongo made polish rice, we will eat and export to bring income and jobs to the people of Navrongo.

“We are masters of job creation because we did it and we know how to do it,” she said, and advocated sustainable job for the youth irrespective of any government.

“Let me use NABCO for example, if a different government comes into office, the personnel should be maintained.

They should not be sacked. You can employ and add, but don’t sack them because they are not party members and employ your own. This will help Ghana to move forward.”

The Parliamentary Candidates dialogue was on the theme: “The role of Parliament, local authorities and participatory governance for community development.”

The dialogue was organised by the instance of the Justice and Peace Commission of the Navrongo-Bolgatanga Catholic Diocese of the Region in collaboration with the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE).

It was supported by the European Union and the Konrad Adenauer Stiffing, a German Non-Governmental Organisation.