President John Dramani Mahama has directed a comprehensive audit of the Buipe Sheanut Factory following concerns about the facility’s financial mismanagement and subsequent closure.
The factory, a $10 million agribusiness venture established in 2012 through a partnership between the Government of Ghana and Sysgate Brazil Limited, was designed to add value to sheanut products while creating employment opportunities in the Savannah Region, particularly for women engaged in sheanut harvesting.
During a meeting with the Ghana Cocoa, Coffee, and Sheanut Farmers Association (COCOSHE), President Mahama accused the previous administration of squandering the factory’s operating capital and mismanaging its resources.
According to President Mahama, when the Nana Addo-led government assumed office in 2016, not only was the factory’s capital depleted, but its stock of sheanuts — which could have been processed to generate revenue — was also sold off.
“The factory was running well. It had capital, it had stock of sheanut, it was processing when the change of government happened,” Mahama stated.
He explained that the new management not only spent the factory’s funds but also sold the raw materials, further worsening the situation.
“They sold to another factory and collected that money and spent that one too. After spending the capital and spending the stock of raw material, there was nothing else to spend, and so the factory had to shut down and lay people off,” he lamented.
President Mahama stressed that such mismanagement was an example of poor handling of public resources, emphasizing that a privately owned facility would have likely been managed more responsibly.
“I agree with the secretary that we must audit that factory, identify those responsible for causing this financial loss to the state, and bring them to book,” he concluded.
The planned audit aims to uncover the details behind the financial mismanagement, with President Mahama vowing to hold those accountable for the factory’s collapse.
