The Acting General Manager of the Kumasi Shoe Factory has said that the Armed Forces, who are shareholders of the company should be blamed for the deplorable state of the company.

The Defence Minister, Dominic Nitiwul had accused the management of the factory for its woes.

According to him, the Armed Forces have been sidelined, with no accounts rendered to private managers of the facility.

The company had a total of 200 workers since it was refurbished in 2012 but there are now only 49, a situation the Minister had blamed on management.

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But addressing a press conference on Monday, the acting General Manager of the company, Nii Konnie Laryea said the company is in the state it is because the security agencies they produce do not patronize their products.

“It is a fact that all the government security agencies, including the Ghana Police, Ghana National Fire Service, Prisons Service, the Immigration Service and even the Ghana Armed Forces still order their boots and shoes from China and India,” he said.

“…the security agencies which constitute our primary market have refused to buy our boots and shoes,” he added.

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Mr Laryea believes that the absence of a definite policy to force these security agencies and other government agencies to purchase their products is also a factor.

“It is therefore unfair that the management of the company will be blamed for having reduced the workforce of the company from 200 to 49,” he said.