By Franklin ASARE-DONKOH
Workers of the Produce Buying Company (PBC) are urging the government to step in as the cocoa-buying firm faces operational challenges and financial difficulties.
PBC, once a thriving cocoa-buying company, is now struggling to stay afloat due to alleged inefficiencies on the part of the current management, coupled with financial distress.
The company’s market share has fallen from 30.88 percent in 2016 to just 8 percent in 2021, reflecting its decline.
In January 2024, the Agricultural Development Bank (ADB) and five other banks secured a court order preventing the sale or transfer of PBC’s assets, including its headquarters at Number 106 Olusegun Obasanjo Way, Dzorwulu Junction, Accra.
According to the aggrieved workers, who have been without salaries for months, PBC is a crucial player in Ghana’s cocoa sector and, therefore, deserves the same level of attention and support as COCOBOD.
The workers believe that as a first step in addressing the company’s challenges, the urgent appointment of a new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) is needed to lead the company out of its current crisis.
“By now, PBC should have been given a new CEO so that the staff may see that the government has indeed listened to their grievances, which the previous administration failed to address,” said Mr. Seth Adusei, Vice Chairman of the PBC Workers’ Union.
Speaking in an interview, the Vice Chairman of the PBC Workers’ Union called on the government to take swift action to revive the struggling cocoa-buying firm.
“COCOBOD, with its debt stock of about 32 billion, still has the government’s keen interest in its activities, so why can’t the same government do anything about PBC? It has been about three to four months since they took office, and nothing significant has been done to bring the company back to life,” he lamented.
