Get out of the meeting! – Watch how KT Hammond demanded the firing of cement manufacturers at a meeting

Minister for Trade and Industry, KT Hammond

Amid the ongoing debate over the government’s attempts to regulate cement prices, Trade and Industry Minister KT Hammond has demanded that representatives of the Cement Manufacturers Association leave the meeting.

A video of the meeting, convened by the Ghana Chamber of Construction Industries, shows the minister insisting that cement manufacturers leave before the meeting begins.

“I was invited by the Chamber of Industries, not the Cement Manufacturers Association. Can you please leave?” the minister asked.

He explained that he had already met with the manufacturers and that the purpose of this meeting was specifically to interact with the Chamber of Construction.

“Either I go or they go,” the minister firmly stated, despite the efforts of representatives of both associations to justify the presence of the manufacturers.

At the minister’s insistence, the president of the Ghana Chamber of Construction Industries, Emmanuel Tettey Martey, asked the cement manufacturers to leave the meeting.

“With all due respect, our manufacturers, our minister has clearly said that he has already met with you and you have put your issues before him and us. He thought that he would meet only with the chamber. So that is our position. We do not want a situation where the minister walks away, then we would not have achieved the objective for which the meeting was called,” he said.

An attempt to intervene by the Vice President of the Ghana Chamber of Construction, Nana Opare Kwafo, who also serves as the Kyidomhene of Aburi, was strongly rejected by the minister.

On July 1, 2024, representatives of cement manufacturers boycotted a meeting with the Minister of Commerce.

They decided to boycott the meeting after the minister insisted on holding the meeting in the presence of the media, despite their request for a private session.

Look the following video:

This is what the arrogance of power looks like. Ghana paa nie 🤣 image.twitter.com/s3cw2HsFRT

— Abdul Hameed (@sayhameed) July 19, 2024

Government of Georgia/Government Office