Frank Bednar explaining a point to the Takoradi MP
The West African Mills Company Limited (WAMCO), a cocoa processing company located in Takoradi, is ready to start production in September this year, the management of the company has said.
The cocoa processing company was shut down for about three years after Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) allegedly stopped supplying cocoa beans to the company due to accumulated debts running into millions of cedis.
During the recent visit of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to the Western Region, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of COCOBOD, Joseph Boahen Aidoo, gave assurance that the current New Patriotic Party (NPP) government would revive the defunct company.
There have been series of protests by the workers but all have yielded no results.
It would be recalled that in July 2016, three workers of the distressed company died in a ghastly accident that occurred at Komenda Sefwi, near Beposo on the Cape Coast-Takoradi highway.
The deceased were among a group of 22 workers of the company, who were travelling from Takoradi to Parliament House in Accra to listen to the former Finance Minister Seth Terkper answer questions related to their company.
They were also to follow up on their petition to the government about their plight in the company and whether or not assets of WAMCO were being sold as speculated.
The revival of the cocoa processing company, which has the capacity to process 230 tonnes of cocoa beans per day, would lessen the plight of the workers, most of whom had been rendered redundant.
A visit by BUSINESS GUIDE to the premises of the company revealed that preparations were underway for the test run of the machines in September this year.
Some cleaning, other repair and maintenance works are currently ongoing.
According to management of WAMCO, the company would start with about 30 workers for the test run but the number would increase when the cocoa processing company starts full operations by the end of the year.
The company, which has been granted a free zone board status, comprises three factories, including Expeller Plant, Cocoa Liquor Plant and Hydraulic Press Plant.
The first two plants are in WAMCO 1 and the other is in WAMCO 2.
This came to light when the Member of Parliament (MP) for Takoradi, Kwabena Okyere Darko-Mensah visited the two plants of the company at WAMCO one—Expeller Plant and Liquor Plant– to assess their readiness to start work next month.
The expeller plant uses the expeller methods for the extraction of butter from the cocoa beans.
The crude butter extracted is then purified, deodorized and packaged with the brand name, “Deodorized Butter” and “Expeller Cocoa Cake.”
At the Cocoa Liquor Plant, roasted cocoa beans are winnowed and the nibs milled into a fine paste which is sterilized, cooled by tempering machine and blocked as Natural Cocoa Liquor. The plant has a facility to alkalize the liquor.
The Deputy Managing Director of WAMCO, Frank Bednar, indicated that the company was a joint venture between Ghana Cocoa Board and a German investor, and that several attempts to help revive the company during the regime of the previous government were not successful.
“So we started talking to the new administration and the current CEO of COCOBOD Joseph Boahen Aidoo, who is a former minister in the region, gave the assurance that the current government would collaborate with the foreign investor to revamp the company,” he added.
The Member of Parliament (MP) for Takoradi, Kwabena Okyere Darko-Mensah, was grateful to President Nana Akufo-Addo for putting pressure on COCOBOD and the Ministry of Agriculture to ensure the revival of the company.
“I believe WAMCO is a major enabler in the Sekondi-Takoradi metropolis and the Western Region as a whole and it’s obvious that the resuscitation of the company would help boost economic activities in the metropolis,” he added.
From Emmanuel Opoku, Takoradi