The CEO of GIHOC Distilleries Company Ltd, Mr. Maxwell Kofi Jumah, has hailed the NPP administration, led by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, for saving the company from total collapse.
GIHOC Distilleries, established in 1958, operates under the Ministry of Trade and Industry. The company, under the erstwhile John Mahama administration, hit the rocks and was on the verge of collapse due to bad management, unpaid employee salaries, and outright inefficiencies.
Faced with staff demonstrating in red bands upon his arrival, Mr. Jumah said the NPP administration has since restored hope and raised the bar in corporate resuscitation, and enhanced the morale of the workers.
“On my first day on the job, I came to meet employees wearing red headbands at the entrance. These aggrieved employees had not been paid for over a year. Some staff was taking as low as GHC250 and even that they could not pay. All furniture in the company was broken as well as machinery. The company couldn’t produce anything unless an order came in to generate money to buy raw materials.”
Under the new management, things have changed. It all started with an increase in base pay for employees. This helped in relieving most of the employees from the numerous loans they were struggling to pay off.
“The first thing I did was to increase the base pay of the lowest-paid employees from GHC250 to GHC1000. We have also started an in-house canteen and clinic to meet the basic needs of our workers while at work.”
He also added that staff is now entitled to some incentives, aside from their monthly salaries, ranging from free transportation to a refund of medical bills.
“We rely on the extra talents of workers to fix issues at GIHOC, to reduce costs,” Mr. Jumah disclosed in an exclusive interview streamed live on the social media handles of NPP Loyal Ladies on Thursday, 18th June 2020.
Mr. Jumah, who is a former Mayor of Kumasi and also former MP for Asokwa, was the special guest on the group’s ongoing social media Live initiative with Government appointees and Party Executives aimed at highlighting the achievements of the NPP administration.
In furtherance of the President’s promise to create more jobs through enhanced industrialization, Mr. Jumah said the company has increased the number of employees from 150 to 400.
GIHOC is collaborating with the 1D1F Secretariat to set up 10 factories to make the superior GIHOC brands more available to the citizens of Ghana to reduce foreign exchange leakages through the importation of goods, which can be produced locally.
“I and the workers of GIHOC know that without the vision and support of President Akufo-Addo and the NPP government, the story of GIHOC would have been very sad. So many people, families would have been struggling. But today I, Kofi Ghana, Kofi Jumah, can say that Nana Akufo-Addo has saved GIHOC and lives.”
Source: Mybrytfmonline/Budu Sam Ekow
