The Kumasi Shoe Factory could create 1,500 new jobs within months under the government’s 24-hour Economy programme, but it remains largely idle due to the lack of a ready market.

State security agencies, which perhaps have the biggest combined demand for boots and shoes, still import footwear annually in defiance of a directive to buy them locally. 
In 2014, President John Mahama — during his first term in office — directed all state agencies to procure their footwear from the Kumasi Shoe Factory, which is partly state-owned.

However, the directive appears somewhat relaxed with the passage of time.

The factory, now operating with just 41 workers, has purchased four new sandals assembly lines expected to arrive next month, and is also refurbishing existing machinery to support round-the-clock production.

Officials from partner companies in the Czech Republic are already in Ghana to service and renovate old equipment as part of the expansion of the Kumasi Shoe Factory.

According to the Board Chairperson of the company, Dr Karl Laryea, the factory was prepared to move immediately to a three-shift system, but full implementation would depend on strict enforcement of procurement directives to security agencies in particular.

“We intend to ensure that the government’s 24-hour Economy programme is fully integrated into our operations to create more jobs for the teeming youth,” he said.

The factory is jointly owned by the Ghana Armed Forces and the Czech Republic-based company, Knights a.s., operating in Ghana through its subsidiary, Knights Ghana Limited.

Dr Laryea said more than €1 million had been invested in new machinery, with additional funds used to refurbish older equipment in 2025.

When fully operational, the four new assembly lines are expected to enable the production of between 10 million and 15 million pairs of school sandals annually, in addition to security services’ boots and other assorted footwear.

Dr Laryea said the main obstacle facing the factory was not machinery, labour or capital, but the failure of state institutions to comply with government procurement directives.

The agencies include the Ghana Police Service, Ghana National Fire Service, the Ghana Immigration Service, the National Disaster Management Organisation, and the National Service Secretariat.

Last year, the Minister for the Interior, Muntaka Mohammed-Mubarak, again directed all security agencies under the Ministry for the Interior to stop importing footwear and procure it locally from the Kumasi Shoe Factory.

Calls placed to the Ministry of the Interior were answered, but officials indicated that they were in a meeting and would revert, but no feedback was received as of the time of filing this report.

The Prisons Service, however, said it sourced its boots and shoes from the service’s own factory at the James Camp Prison facility in Accra.

FLASHBACK: Dr Karl Laryea (right), Board Chairman of Knights Ghana Limited, showing President John Dramani Mahama some of the shoes produced at the factory when he visited in 2014

A source from the service told the Daily Graphic that all boots and shoes supplied to personnel of the service were always manufactured at the service’s own factory, and not imported.

All efforts to reach the other security agencies to check on whether they procure from the company proved futile.

The Head of Public Relations (PRO) of the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS), DO II Desmond Ackah, did not respond to a text message sent to him and was unable to answer follow-up phone calls.

The Acting Director of Public Relations of the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF), Naval Captain Veronica Adzo Arhin, responded to our message but did not address the questions, saying she would revert. 

Non compliance

According to Dr Laryea, none of the agencies had so far complied with the new directive.

“We have formally written twice to the agencies since the directive was issued last year, and made repeated attempts to engage them, but we have received no response,” he said.

Instead, he said, the agencies continued to import footwear from India, China and the United Kingdom, amongother countries.

Dr Laryea dismissed claims that the factory’s products were of low quality, saying samples provided to the agencies through the Interior Ministry had passed all required tests.

“It is not true. Samples were offered to them, and they later attested to the quality,” he said.

He added that the agencies had refused to provide their size specifications, known as size rolls, which were required for production.

Instead, he said, some had asked the factory to produce footwear without confirming sizing and promised to purchase it later.

“This is impractical and risky. If we produce and they come with different sizes, we will not be able to meet their demand, and it will become another excuse for them to buy from outside.

They do not want to buy.

That is why they refuse to give their size rolls,” Dr Laryea stated.

The factory currently operates at about eight per cent of its installed capacity of 700,000 pairs of assorted security boots and shoes per year.

Dr Laryea said the full implementation of the 24-hour Economy programme would require firm enforcement of government procurement directives for locally produced goods.

“One thing is to tell them to go and buy. The second thing is to enforce that order,” he stressed.

He, therefore, called on the government to ensure that funds allocated to security agencies for footwear procurement were channelled directly through the factory to guarantee compliance.

“Giving orders without enforcement achieves nothing. What we need now is for the government to create the market, and we will produce at full capacity,” he said.

Decline, lost jobs

Dr Laryea said the factory’s decline reflected decades of policy failure.

In the 1960s, when Ghana’s population was about six million, the factory employed roughly 1,800 workers.

Today, with a population of about 35 million, the workforce has shrunk to 41.

When the company was resuscitated in 2012, it employed about 200 workers, with projections to expand to 800 workers within two to three years.

Instead, the workforce steadily declined over the years due to the lack of sustained orders from the government.

Dr Laryea said the previous government rejected proposals to include the factory under the One District, One Factory programme.

“We do not need further incentives or equipment to implement the 24-hour Economy.

We have everything we need.

What we require is clear policy direction and strict enforcement to stop unnecessary importation of security services shoes and boots by the security agencies,” he said.