Workers of the Produce Buying Company (PBC) are calling on the government to intervene as the cocoa-buying firm faces severe operational and financial difficulties.
Once a leading player in the cocoa-buying industry, PBC is now struggling to remain operational, with allegations of inefficiencies in current management compounded by financial distress.
The company’s market share has drastically declined from 30.88 percent in 2016 to just 8 percent in 2021, signaling a significant downturn.
In January 2024, the Agricultural Development Bank (ADB) and five other banks secured a court order to prevent the sale or transfer of PBC’s assets, including its headquarters at Number 106 Olusegun Obasanjo Way, Dzorwulu Junction, Accra.
According to the distressed workers, who have been without pay for months, PBC is an integral part of Ghana’s cocoa sector and should receive the same level of support and attention as COCOBOD.
The workers are calling for the urgent appointment of a new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) to help steer 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.
In an interview, the vice chairman of the PBC Workers’ Union urged the government to take immediate action to revive the struggling cocoa-buying company.
“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.
