Local automobile company Kantanka has expressed concerns over what they believe is the hasty approach government has resorted in signing the agreement for the establishment of an assembling plant of German car giant VW in Ghana.
According to Katanka, government failed to do the necessary stakeholder consultation before signing the deal.
In a statement Kantanka said although they are not against the coming of VW into the Ghanaian market, they hoped the government had attached speed and relevance to the numerous proposals that they have submitted to it like it did in the case of VW.
“We want to state emphatically that we welcome the news of VW setting up a plant here in Ghana. We are not against it. We are aware there will be competition, as there has always been and this is going to give us the marginal propensity to work hard and achieve our long term goals for mother Ghana and Africa.
“However, we are of the view that government has hastily signed the agreement without broad stakeholder consultations.
“We are shocked to learn that the Ministry of Trade and Industry is part of this deal and want to question the Minister’s position in the promotion of trade and industry in Ghana vis-à-vis the local automotive industry,” Katanka bemoaned.
VW is set to begin operations in Ghana by next year. The deal was announced by the German Chancellor Angela Merkel when she visited President Akufo-Addo last week.
Below are details of the statement by Kantanka
PRESS STATEMENT BY KANTANKA AUTOMOBILE ON THE SETTING UP OF
VW’S ASSEMBLY PLANT IN GHANA.
Our attention has been drawn to the Daily Graphic publication on Friday August 30,2018 captioned “President Akufo-Addo lauds VW’s decision to set up Assembly Plant in Ghana” duringthe German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s brief visit to Ghana on Thursday, August 29, 2018
The paper stated that the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the establishment of the automobile assembly plant was signed between Volkswagen (VW) and Ghana’s Ministry of Trade and Industry.
Prior to the visit of the German Chancellor, the Senior Minister, Yaw Osafo-Maafo, in a press briefing at the recently held Graphic / Stanbic Breakfast Meeting at La Palm Hotel on August 1, 2018 stated and it was reported by the Daily Graphic of August 2, 2018 that, two international automobile companies are expected to set up their plants in the country to assemble their brand of vehicles.
Senior Minister Yaw Osafo-Maafo again stated that two separate MoUs were submitted to the government and government has fast-tracked the signing of the MoUs to expedite the setting up of the plants.
Senior Minister Yaw Osafo-Maafo further stated that “in the MoU which was currently being reviewed was a request that “of course government buys a certain amount of the cars”
We want to state emphatically that we welcome the news of VW setting up a plant here in Ghana. We are not against it. We are aware there will be competition, as there has always been and this is going to give us the marginal propensity to work hard and achieve our long term goals for mother Ghana and Africa.
However, we are of the view that government has hastily signed the agreement without broad stakeholder consultations.
We are shocked to learn that the Ministry of Trade and Industry is part of this deal and want to question the Minister’s position in the promotion of trade and industry in Ghana vis-à-vis the local automotive industry.
We are also shocked to learn that government has fast-tracked the signing of the MoU and want to ask the sector minister, still the Minister of Trade and Industry and again his Senior Minister the last time they have fast-tracked any of the numerous proposals that we have submitted to their offices.
We are again shocked that in the MoU, government has agreed to buy “a certain amount of the cars”from the companies yet to be established and want to ask the Senior Minister if Kantanka has ever been given that opportunity.
We want to find out:
i.Under which policies are the international companies going to operate?
Under which Custom Procedure Code (CPC) are their knock downs going to be treated?
iii. Under which tax and duty regimes are they going to be classified?
We want to remind all Ghanaians once again that Kantanka is not against the setting up of auto assembly plants in the country but nostalgic memories are that we have seen Nissan here in the early 70s, DAF and Neoplan existed and when the going got tough they closed down and left us. Kantanka has come to stay.
God bless our homeland Ghana and make Kantanka greater and stronger.
MANAGEMENT
KANTANKA AUTOMOBILE CO. LTD.
1ST SEPTEMBER, 2018
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This is a local family business that the founder does not want let go ; he wants the business to succeed with his family tree in charge ; the man has no strategic business model to follow but perhaps has a great mind to copy what others have done which alright when you live in China or Japan where the government allocates billions to promote local businesses to copy designs from the needle to complex machines ; it is not like that Ghana ;Ghana has no patriotic leaders or politicians to encourage such leapfrog innovation besides although can move from and adot the concept of 'leapfrogging' and move in innovative manufacturing ; politicians just steel our monies ;the founder Osofo Safo has a poor understanding of the complex business world and his son in chrge thinks he knows much about business ; buy and sell or sourcing import export of products from abroad is quite different from manufacturing besides the state of our economy is geared towards a procurement economy and contracts econmy or by and sell ; these so called business men in Ghana are just buy and sell business men ;his son I am quite sure is educated but has he bothered to go read about the start up models of the Japanese and Chinese car industry to learn that hey started on the low side ; msde mistake and throught out years learnt from their mistakes ;he thinks like the typical Ghanaian church goer who thinks prayers and worshipping of God will solve his problems NO SIR !!!!; it does not work that way in this complex world of business ; if he want to gt resources from the government or abroad he should be prepared to do a deal to reliquish part of the business to government and seek government assistance to help inward investment; YOU BUILD CHEAP AND SELL LOW TO BUILD YOUR BASE : YOU DO NOT BUILD HIGH AND SELL HIGH TO ATTRACT CUSTOMERS OVER TIME .
Katanka to float shares for who? lol they are not going to do it my friend. Their whole business model is, "Apostle Sarfo is a genius and he can do everything the white man can do". That is why they make those WCs that talk, missile launchers and helicopters. But they don't understand that business is a serious venture and you need trained minds. Look at Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and even Dangote. They hire the best people to handle the business aspect while they provide the vision.
Hi SOLUTION TO KANTANKA PROBLEMS FLOAT SHARE FOR PUBLIC PARTICIPATION STATE LOCAL GOVT AND THE PUBLIC IN THESE WAY KANTANKA WILL EXPAND. TAXIS GOVT VEHICLES AGENCIES WILL USE THIS CARS AND ALL WILL BENEFITS. THESE WILL ENHANCE JOB CREATION INCOME GENERATION AND SO ON. PLEASE SCHEDULE YOUR PRIORITY NOW.MOST INVENTIONS ARE FOR WHOLE COUNTRY CITIZENS TO BENEFITS.
you cannot start car manufacturing company using tithes and offering from the church. who are providing the expertise, church members or what. your duaghter should have been the pr of the company instead of mp
consult you on what? this guy doesn't have any expertise in the automobile industry and yet he wants government to consult him on matters relating to that field. he is just assembling Chinese vehicles and claim he is a vehicle manufacturer. they should be truthful to Ghanaians for once.if he is in partnership with a Chinese company, he should know that VW is also in partnership with a Ghanaian company.
How long has Kantanka been in existence in Ghana. You had all the time to manufacture and take over the whole car industry in Ghana but you didnt and now that you see VW coming you are talking. Why dontyou also tell the Government to ban the import of home used cars so that your company will thrive. You have wasted your opportunity so stop crying over spilt milk
This is a free country operating a free economy. What?Does Kantanka want to be the only company producing vehicles in Ghana? What kind of infantile inward looking argument is that?Produce good quality vehicles at a price that people will find reasonable.Market your product professionally and stop whining.You see how the NDc maggots are already muddying the waters for you?By the way you are a young educated man. Stop your dad from wasting his time producing things like helicopters planes and armoured vehicles. The Ghana Armed Forces will not be in a hurry to procure those just yet Let's be serious.
Kantanka is talking for Ghana. Lets find time and get solutions.
We Ghanaians hate good things. Cathedral, we talk. Free High school, we talk. Vw coming in, we talk. We complain too much
Mr. Sarfo, Good morning. First of all, if you are really seriously about your business PLEASE hire professionals. Your press statement evens sounds like a poem. Speaking is different from writing, you don't have to repeat the same phrase 4 times. Stop doing everything yourself and get people who are actually trained and pay them to help you run your business. People hire consultants for a reason. There is something called product differentiation and market segmentation in marketing. Get some good marketing people to develop a solid marketing plan for you. Maybe since your brand identification is weak why dont you focus on the cheaper end of the market and compete on price instead of making luxury vehicles? Look at how successful those japan-made aboboYaas were in the villages. Second, you are a PRIVATE business; Ghana doesn't owe you any favors. Even if you were granted a monopoly in the local market, there are lots of people who will still import vehicles because they don't want to drive Katanga cars. That is their choice. Won't VW employ Ghanaians? Are the Ghanaians you are employing more Ghanaian than the ones VW will employ? We have MTN, tigo vodafone etc. that is the reality of the global market