By Patrick Biddah

Whilst Ex-President John Kufuor assigned himself billions of tax money as ex-gratia, three workers of the Aveyime Cattle Ranch in the North Tongu district of the Volta Region, who were not paid for three years died out of hunger, The Enquirer has gathered.

One of the deceased, Mr. Hama Fulani, believed to be in his 50s was a Burkinabe. Others who passed on are Abdramani Hamani, whose death occurred in July 2007 was in his 60s; the chief herdsman at the ranch, Mr. Bube Fulani also met his premature death in December 2008. He was referred to as human computer, for his ability to tell records about each of the cattle.

The wives of some of the workers have also packed out of their matrimonial homes. Their action is due to the inability of their husbands to meet their matrimonial responsibilities and demands.

But the workers blame the situation on the 40-month (three and half years) of non-salary payment as workers of the ranch.

As if not enough, the outstanding salary arrears of the Aveyime Cattle Ranch workers has affected the education of the children of these workers, who have withdrawn their wards from school for their inability to pay fees. In some cases, workers are reported to have completely deserted their posts to seek greener pastures elsewhere.

The Aveyime Cattle Ranch was established in 1973, with an Italian grant, with the aim of producing genetically superior beef cattle for sale to the local cattle breeders, private farmers and institutions in the coastal savannah zone of the country.

The Italian grant ra n out after 10 years, compelling government to bring on board the European Economic Commission (EEC), (now European Union) to fund the project. The EEC agreed but on condition that the project was made a limited liability company, which involved technical aid to personnel and money for paying salaries and wages to local staff.

Almost four years of unpaid salaries has therefore compelled 21 workers of the company to fire two separate petitions to the President, Prof John Evans Atta Mills.

The Secretary to the President, Mr. James Kwame Bebaako- Mensah, in a letter dated 31 August, 2009 responded to the petition and directed the Minister of Food and Agriculture to deal with the matter.

In their first petition, which is dated 27th August 2009, the workers catalogued the history of the operations of the cattle ranch, explaining that when the EEC took over funding of the ranch, which resulted in the increase in the cattle population from 3,000 herds in 1986 to 16,000 as of 1992, they also ran out of funds, a situation which also affected work of the Extension Service officers and made them redundant.

Information available to The Enquirer has it that after the departure of the EEC, management of the cattle ranch were left with no option than to sell some of the cattle and use the proceeds to settle bills and take care of administration work, as well as pay staff.

A bull was sold between GH¢1,000 and GH¢ 1,200 while the female cow was given away at a price between GH¢300 and GH¢500.

The prospects of the cattle ranch hit a wall, when from 1982 to 1990, the European Economic Commission ran out of cash, after taking over from the Italian government and provided vehicles, built accommodation and paid salaries and wages to local staff.

In a bid to find a replacement and to get funding for the ranch, a series of letters were written to government from 1991 to take a decision on the future of the ranch but there were neither replies nor action taken to decide on the fate of the ranch.

For unexplained reasons, the then Minister of Food and Agriculture Maj. Courage Kobla Quashigah (rtd) in 2003 sourced funds from the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) but without plans to pay workers from the grant. Various ministers, including the Volta Regional Minister, Mr. Joseph Amenewode, have visited the ranch but without an end in sight for the workers’ plight. According to the workers, whose concerns were deeply contained in their petition, the current Agriculture Minister, Mr. Kwesi Ahwoi, visited the ranch on May 12 ,2009 and asked the workers to compile their salary arrears. But, according to them, seven months, after compiling the list, they have not heard from the minister.

The salary arrears span from September 2005 up to date is GH¢114,835.24, the workers noted.

Mr. Ernest Debrah, the minister who took over from Maj.Courage Quashigah(rtd) as the Agriculture Minister, instituted a new board of directors in October 2006, which was chaired by Mr. Raymond Okudzeto, who requested funds from the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning towards rehabilitation and payment of the workers’ outstanding salaries and wages but that could not materialize. The Enquirer’s enquiries into the dwindling fortunes of the Aveyime Cattle Ranch have revealed that the Venture Capital Fund came close to funding the ranch but that could not see the light of day because the company argued it does not fund state institutions.

The issue of the salary arrears of the workers remained unresolved when in February last year all boards of companies and corporations were dissolved, following the coming into office of the National Democratic Congress. Again on November 18, 2009, the aggrieved workers fired a second petition to President Mills, complaining that the Ministry of Food and Agriculture had forwarded their case to the Ministry of Finance to study the matter and make the necessary payment.

However, the workers are still peeved as, according to them, the Ministry of Finance was rather moving at a snail pace in looking into their plight for the necessary settlement to be made.

The paper gathered that the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning has written to the Auditor General‘s Department to audit the assets and liabilities of the ranch.

Characteristic of industrial workers, the workers of the cattle ranch say they have not staged a demonstration because it will lead to the destruction of the remaining 274 cattle and for the fear that the place will be raided by thieves. Meanwhile, sources say investors have expressed interest in the ranch. Speaking with The Enquirer via phone last week, a senior staff, who pleaded anonymity, told the paper that he has survived on his children’s benevolence and that he was living on a salary which was a little over GH¢100, adding that his colleagues have also survived on backyard farms .

“Nobody among us, apart from me, has ever received a salary beyond GH¢ 100,” he sadly told this reporter, adding that some of the officers who have been working for the past 25 years are paid only GH¢25.

He expressed the worry that the ranch, which has prospects and recruited personnel from the Accounts Department of the Ghana Highways Authority and some veterinary officers, is dwindling and may soon collapse.