Accra: The Industrial and Commercial Workers' Union (ICU) Ghana has urged the government to revitalize struggling State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) as a means to bolster the economy and create sustainable employment. The union highlighted the importance of these enterprises in providing jobs to thousands of Ghanaians while promoting industrialization, increasing local production, conserving foreign exchange, and significantly contributing to the nation's socio-economic transformation.
According to Ghana Web, during its 65th Regular National Executive Council (NEC) meeting in Accra, the ICU Ghana identified companies such as Volta Star Textiles Limited, Akosombo Industrial Company Limited (AICL), Neoplan Ghana Limited, and Aluworks as strategic national assets needing immediate attention. A communique issued post-meeting, signed by General Secretary Morgan Ayawine and National Chairman Noble Al-Haji Nuru-Deen, expressed the union's belief that the government would not allow these vital enterprises to deteriorate further, especially when thousands of young Ghanaians remain unemployed.
The union emphasized that reviving these companies could address the unemployment challenge in the country, particularly affecting graduates from universities, tertiary institutions, and skills training centers who have struggled to find jobs for years. The ICU Ghana pointed out the decline faced by Volta Star Textiles Limited, once a significant producer of grey fabric, despite ongoing imports of similar raw materials with limited foreign exchange.
The ICU Ghana also raised concerns about AICL's declining fortunes as the country continues to import large quantities of foreign textile prints. Similarly, Neoplan Ghana Limited, with its idle manufacturing plant and skilled workforce, sees millions in foreign exchange spent on importing buses, thereby creating jobs abroad instead of within Ghana.
The union is convinced that there is an urgent need to recapitalize and revive these strategic enterprises to restore industrial production, create sustainable employment, reduce dependency on imports, conserve foreign exchange, and strengthen Ghana's national economy. Additionally, the ICU National Executive Council revisited the government's intention to offload a 70 percent equity stake in the Volta Aluminium Company Limited (VALCO) to a private investor and renewed its appeal to President Mahama to halt the proposed sale.
The union underscored the importance of maintaining VALCO as a strategic national asset, believing that several dormant state-owned enterprises with significant productive potential could be revived through targeted investments, recapitalization, and strategic policy interventions. These measures, it argued, would generate thousands of jobs, stimulate industrial growth, and contribute meaningfully to national development.