Accra, Oct 21, GNA- Mr. James Kwamena Dickson, a Ghanaian Industrialist, on Thursday accused some foreign companies based in Ghana of not doing enough to financially empower the indigenous industries. He said although they were not compelled by law to do so, they could out of their social responsibility consider helping budding local companies to flourish to create jobs for the teeming youth of the country.

Mr. Dickson who said this in a press statement copied to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) specifically mentioned Central Ashanti Gold Limited, a mining company, which recently awarded a fuel supply contract to Total Petroleum Ghana Limited which he said indigenous companies could have competently handled.

He said debunked the perception that most Ghanaian companies did not have the capacity to carry out such projects adding, most of the big time companies had their humble beginnings.

"Where do they want us to build our capacities if they do not allow us to do small jobs to grow bigger to their levels", he questioned. Nana Prah Agyensaim VI, Chairman of Central Ashanti Gold Limited who was reacting in an interview with the GNA said Total Ghana was awarded the contract because of their track record in handling such contracts.

He said Total, the fifth largest publicly-traded integrated oil and gas company in the world, had the capacity to install a 360,000 litre fuel storage facility which a lot of the companies short listed were not capable of handling.

"In any case, I am very happy that Mr. Dickson admitted that we are not compelled to go in for public procurement, because supply of fuel to a mining company is so critical that we cannot afford to leave it for experimentation. Shortage of fuel for just an hour can lead to deaths in the mines."

According to Nana Agyensaim, Total which had Ghanaian shareholders even more than his outfit had existed for more than 50 years and was therefore more capable than others that were listed in their competitive bidding.

"There was no favouritism used in the tender process, due process was adopted and conducted by a Ghanaian experienced independent consulting group. A Ghanaian company was awarded the work, so the assertion that Ghanaian companies were sidelined is not supported by any fact."

He said his outfit which had been operating in the past 13 years in Ayamfari, near Dunkwa in the Central region of Ghana, had never discriminated against any Ghanaian and would never do so in future. Total Ghana Limited is listed on the Ghana Stock Exchange and has been part of Ghana for 50 years. We will welcome and support Ghanaian owned companies where possible, however, they must first demonstrate their operational capacity to perform and to demonstrate their competitive pricing, safety and environmental compliance, he concluded