Golden Exotics Limited (GEL’s) Fairtrade Premium Committee (FPC) has handed over school blocks and houses to communities in the Shia Osudoku District of the Greater Accra.
The projects include 6-unit and 3-unit classroom blocks with offices and facilities for the D/A basic school, primary and kindergarten sections in the Kewum-Atrobinya Community.
FPC also handed over 10 residential houses with facilities for teachers and nurses of Volivo in the Osudoku traditional area.
Speaking at the handing over ceremony in Kewum-Atrobinya on Tuesday, March 16, 2021, the Managing Director of Golden Exotics Limited, Benedict Rich, explained that “GEL is a fair trade certified company. This means that our production methods, our labour, social and environmental policies conform to the requirements of FLOCERT, the certification body for Fair Trade International.”
He stated that “these policies are audited at least once a year to ensure continuous compliance.”
According to him, the projects that were commissioned “have been made possible because of Fair Trade Premium Receipts from our customers in Europe which amount to about One million Euros annually.”
He explained that “Fair Trade concept is a unique one. It is the only certification scheme that gives back to the producers. This is possible because of deliberate and conscious decision of consumers to pay a premium over and above the market prices for bananas so that the difference will be transferred to the workers of the supplying company.”
He added that “the overall objective of Fair Trade therefore is to seek the socio-economic development and wellbeing of workers, their families and communities and the premium receipts are intended to be applied for that purpose.”
He said Fairtrade Premium Committee undertakes specific projects to support workers and their families at their request.
Ongoing projects, he said, included a subsidized daily lunch, educational support for workers, their spouses and children in tertiary education by way of scholarship of Ghc 3,000 per year, school supplies to children of workers.
District Chief Executive (DCE) for Shia Osudoku District, Daniel Akufo, who received the keys of the projects from FPC on behalf of the beneficiaries, expressed profound gratitude to GEL and FPC for undertaking developmental projects in the District.
“What Fairtrade and GEL are doing is that they are closing the developmental gap,” he noted.
He said the projects would have been left for the local assembly to undertake if not for the generous support of GEL and FPC.
The Osudoku Paramount Chief, Adegbor Ngmongmowuyaa Kwesi Animle VI, in his speech, stated that “undoubtedly, Golden Exotics is playing remarkable roles in the socio-economic development of the Osudoku Traditional Area.”
By Melvin Tarlue, Kewum-Atrobinya