Veep commissions expanded unit for matchet factory

Tema (Greater Accra), 12^th May ’99 -

Vice-President John Atta Mills on Tuesday commissioned an expanded factory of Crocodile Matchet Ghana Limited (CMGL) in Tema and expressed the hope that it will provide employment and add value to the company's products.

The five billion-cedi expansion involved the installation of new machinery and equipment and civil works. It was wholly funded by the company, an initiative the Vice-President said was evidence of the workers' confidence in the growth of the economy.

CMGL is a subsidiary of the British Company, Ralph Martindale and Company Limited.

He said government is anxious that more investments into the country will be in the area of manufacturing rather than in the services sector, which is now oversubscribed.

While commending the company for the feat, Vice-President Mills urged the workers to check the decline in output per employee as compared to the workforce.

The company's workforce and production have increased from 70 people producing 144,000 matchets per month to 400 people with an output of 720,000 matchets monthly.

He said it is only through efficiency and productivity that they can achieve positive results and survive in the competitive market.

Prof. Mills advised the workers to remain loyal. "The tendency for us to jump from one company to another just for a little salary is not the best way to accumulate wealth."

He recalled government's policies over the years to encourage the private sector to become the engine of growth and said they are yielding results, though slowly.

For instance, he said, since the new investment code became effective, the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre has registered 780 new investments valued at 1.3 billion dollars.

Of this amount, foreign equity and loans account for 81.35 per cent while the remainder is made up of indigenous holdings.

He said so far as international sources of new investments are concerned, British firms have consistently led the field and are still doing so, with 81 new projects established since 1994.

Mr Paul Anthony Hartley, Chairman of CMGL Board, said the company's annual sales have increased from 2.8 million units to 5.75 million units and is expected to reach eight million units with the expansion.

He said the company's market has primarily been West Africa but with the expansion, it will have to export outside Africa.

Mr Hartley commended the workers for their dedication without which, he said, the factory would not have achieved much.

Mr Kofi Yeboah Antwi, MD of CMGL, said like many other local industries, the company needs government support in order to meet challenges of liberalisation.

He said while the company does not seek to avoid competition, it would want to compete on a level playing field, and cited the importation of cheap and inferior matchets into the country as eroding the competitiveness of the company adding that importers of these goods do not pay the tariffs.

For instance, he said, while CMGL pays Value Added Tax (VAT) on inputs it uses for production, it could not recoup the tax because the product is declared tax exempt.

The importer of a similar product, however, brings the product without paying VAT.

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