Gen Smith briefing the media on Friday. With him are (from L to R) Ban C. Hagan, Alhassan Azong, Minister of State in Charge of Private Sector Reform; Rear Admiral M. Quarshie, Chief of Naval Staff, Major General J.N. Adinkrah, Chief of the Army Staff and Dr. Karl Laryea, representative of Knights.
Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com
By William Yaw Owusu
Monday August 8, 2011
Defence Minister, Lieutenant General Joseph Henry Smith says the takeover of the defunct Kumasi Shoe Factory as part of the ‘Defence Industries Concept’ by the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) will further enhance the economic development of the country.
He said the initiative, which culminated in the establishment of Defence Industrial Holding Company (DIHOC), will in no way “compromise’ the core duties of the military as they seek to become more proactive in the national socio-economic development efforts of the country.
The Defence Minister was speaking at a news conference organized by the Department of Public Relations (DPR) of the GAF to react to public concerns, comments and criticisms following the sod-cutting and formal launching of an initiative dubbed “Civil-Military Collaboration for Socio-Economic Development in Ghana (CIMCSED)” which seeks to bring the military directly involved in private businesses.
Flanked by some top military officers and government officials, Lt. Gen. Smith said since the military cut sod to commence the Kumasi Shoe Factory project there has been intense debate about the initiative, adding that the project is not intended to be “a platform to fight anybody who may not share the new awakening.”
He said what the military is seeking to do is “a response to the government’s programme of private sector reforms which is focused on providing employment to our teeming youth who are badly in need of gainful employment that will make their lives very meaningful.”
The Defence Minister said the military in many countries, both developed and developing, have embarked on similar ventures to contribute to the development of their respective countries, adding that “many are still pursuing the programme and we think the time has come for our armed forces to be counted among the pioneers of our nation’s industrialization.”
He said “DIHOC will bring enormous benefits to the Ghana Armed Forces and the country at large. This is a very laudable initiative that we are embarking upon.”
Brigadier-General Nii Armah Tagoe, GAF’s Director-General of Defence Industries Department, who is going to be the first-ever DIHOC boss, giving an overview of the initiative, said in the Kumasi Shoe Factory deal the Czechs have 60 per cent shares while the GAF will control 40 per cent.
“The project is certainly going to create about 12,000 jobs within the first two years of commencement of production. The military is associated with high level of discipline, positive attitude to work, upholding best practices in professionalism in work ethics and culture. We believe that given the chance the GAF can infest the citizenry, especially those our noble institution will interact with at the work place with its high level of discipline.”
“The projects to be undertaken will dove-tail into the established manufacturing industries set up by DIHOC. The various projects to be undertaken will be in line with the CIMICSED Concept. We shall come later to the specific ventures forming part of the DIHOC.”
After the news conference, Ben C. Eghan, Secretary to Cabinet said “we are here to collectively offer support for the military’s laudable initiative. We know they are capable of turning things around.”
He said the President is focused on leading the private sector reform towards the country’s accelerated development.
........But CPP Cries Foul
The Convention People’s Party (CPP) has protested vehemently to President John Evans Atta Mills following the decision by the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) to takeover the Kumasi Shoe Factory.
On Monday, August 1, 2011 news broke that the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) would takeover the operations of the defunct Kumasi Shoe Factory under a partnership deal with a Czech company, Knights but the CPP says the move is a “dangerous development.”
“We protest in strongest terms, the involvement of the military in financial and industrial enterprises. The concentration of military power and finance in the military could be a dangerous development in our political economy that should be avoided. The military should be limited to its core functions,” Ekow Duncan, CPP Shadow Cabinet Member for Political Affairs said.
A news release issued in Accra titled, “President Mills must stop Military takeover of Kumasi Shoe Factory” and signed by Mr. Duncan said “the announcement of the proposal by the NDC government that the Ghana Army will now be the vehicle for the restitution of the Kumasi Shoe Factory is the most eloquent and unequivocal admission by the government that the divestiture and abandonment of public investments in the manufacturing and agricultural sectors wrecked the economy and undermined our industrialization efforts.”
He said the policy also ensured that “we fulfilled the neo-colonialist objective that we remained a peasant economy and a market for their manufactured exports.”
“The CPP would wish to point out that the divestiture programme pursued by the NDC and NPP governments has caused incalculable damage to the fabric of our society.
Families of redundant and redeployed employees of the abandoned and divested companies became destitute and some workers died in poverty and penury.”
According to the CPP, the “disproportionate” role of the military in the political economy of nations such as Egypt and Turkey has been a source of destabilization in those countries and that should not prop Ghana military in that direction, adding “We therefore call on the President of the Republic of Ghana to take immediate steps to halt the military takeover of the Kumasi Shoe Factory.”
The CPP said the Defense Industries Holding Company (DIHOC) is a page from the CPP concept of the Ghana Industrial Holding Corporation (GIHOC) and therefore what was required was the acceptance of the propriety and validity of the CPP policy of state intervention to develop the manufacturing and private sectors of the economy.
“It will be appropriate and indicative of the penitence of NDC for their role in the unpatriotic divestiture programme, particularly the infamous sale of the Nsawam Cannery Division of GIHOC to the family of their father and founder via the 31st December Women's Movement. We anticipate that the NPP will also in time be repentant and recant their role in the economic subversive enterprise that derailed our industrialization efforts.”
The CPP said the military’s initiative portrays the NDC as a “counterfeit and pseudo Nkrumahist party devoid of Nkrumahist development policy guidelines for the reconstruction of post colonial economies that informs project identifications.”
The DIHOC investment does not appreciate the CPP objective that the Kumasi Shoe Factory was part of a holistic import substitution investment in the livestock industry to secure an internally sustained industry which apart from creating jobs was to contribute to the eradication of the structural external trade deficit of the economy.”
“The CPP wish to draw the attention of the government to the fact that the starting point for the revival of the Kumasi Shoe Factory is to ensure that the unfortunate workers and families get justice; their end of service benefits should be paid to them or their families with the same alacrity and haste as in the case of members of parliament. This is fair on account of the fact that they were not just mere workers but shareholders whose taxes financed the investment.”
The CPP said when they were in office they managed to establish several investment firms that facilitated regional trade and co-operation between Ghana and Burkina Faso but it was obvious that the NDC government “does not know the road to a ‘Better Ghana.”
“The CPP calls on the government to review in this context the revival of the Kumasi Shoe Factory and come up with a comprehensive investment plan that relates fundamentally to external trade deficit reduction.”
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