Former president, John Mahama in his ‘building the nation tour’ in the Upper East Region promised to revamp the Zuarungu meat factory.
Addressing chiefs and party faithfuls at Zuarungu in the Bolgatanga East District, the former president indicated that when the meat factory is revamped, it will be fed by the Wulugu livestock station farms.
John Mahama told the chiefs that the Wulugu livestock farms which has also collapsed will be revamped to the supply the demand of the Zuarungu meat factory to create jobs for the teaming youth and also boost the economic growth of the country.
“We are going to revive the Wulugu livestock station to provide beef cattle and when we’ve revive the Wulugu livestock station it will be the raw material base for the revival of the Zuarungu meat factory and so we will grow the cattle at Wulugu and we will transport the cattle here to Zuarungu and produce meat so that the dogs that has run away will come back and hon Ayine told me that its only the dogs that have left, he said the vultures have also left .And so we will revive the Zuarungu meat factory using the raw materials from the Wulugu livestock station”. He noted.
John Mahama hinted that he was in talks with some key investors who has expressed interest in the two major projects in the North East Region and Upper East Region.
“They say when the blind man says he will throw a stone, he steps on one, I have already discussed with some private investors who are willing to come and change those two projects and revived them so that our young people can get jobs to do”.
Past governments have promised to revamp the Zuarungu meat factory, brought investors to revamp the factory, but it has not been successful, the New Patriotic Party in 2017 led by the then Upper East Regional minister, Rockson Ayine Bukari told journalists that government was initiating measures to convert the factory to an abattoir as part the government flagship program of the one district one factory.
“We want to turn the meat factory into an Abattoir where the Bolga slaughter house will turn into an outlet for selling meat, but everything will be done at the Abattoir so that we can create about 400 jobs and the Wulugu livestock will also come back because we will be needing cattle to feed the factory”. He said the current Bolgatanga slaughter house does not have enough space to accommodate many animals, and the rising number of butchers in the business. Mr. Rockson intimated that, even though some machines at the factory are obsolete and need to be replaced, others are in good state and can facilitate the works of an abattoir, while waiting for the factory to be fully rehabilitated under the One-District-One-Factory policy.
In 2022, during the Ndakoya festival in Zuarungu ,Mr Stephen Yakubu also told the chiefs and people of Zuarungu that government was in talks with investors to revamp the Zuarungu meat factory.
He noted that the move formed part of the government’s One District One Factory (1D1F) flagship programme aimed at fast-tracking the country’s industrialisation agenda to boost the economy.
“If this new arrangement works out, it would create thousands of job opportunities for the teeming unemployed youth in the factory’s operational areas, to improve the living standard of the people”.