Why GAEC’s 6-Year abandoned foundry could help farmers

In a large shed at the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission (GAEC) in Kwabenya, the walls are up but the machines never arrived.

In September 2026, former Minister for Environment, Science and Technology, Prof. Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng, revealed on Channel One TV that the National Foundry and Computer Numerical Control (CNC) Machine Tool Centre — a project he started to recycle scrap from galamsey equipment — has been abandoned for six years

“We had boats designed to carry the chanfang and the floaters. We had two depots, one in Kumasi, one in Takoradi. The idea was to send them all to Accra,” Prof. Frimpong-Boateng said. The metals were to be melted and turned into road furniture, drainage covers, ploughs and harrows for Ghanaian farmers.The building is still there. Several others too. But nothing moves.

In Mion District — Kukpalgu, Tunayili, Kulinkpegu — the EU and World Vision’s Regreening Africa Phase II is targeting 200,000 households to restore degraded lands. The project needs tools. A tractor-drawn plough costs GH¢8,000 to GH¢12,000 imported. Local blacksmiths can make one for GH¢2,500 if they get affordable steel.That steel was supposed to come from Kwabenya.

GAEC’s own budget tells the story. Between 2020 and 2022, GAEC received GH¢4.3m to GH¢9.1m for salaries but only GH¢1m to GH¢4m for capital projects, with releases often cut by 30%. To survive, GAEC and CSIR were, in Prof. Frimpong-Boateng’s words, “instructed by successive governments to commercialise… to keep doors open.” When the money did not come, the foundry stopped.

It is not the only project. GAEC’s 5-year sterile anti-malaria mosquito project was lost after ECG cut power over debt. The 1000MW nuclear power programme, announced by Chief of Staff Julius Debrah at AETC 2026 for sites at Nsuban (Western) and Obotan (Central), is now stuck in Phase 2 because, as Nuclear Power Ghana’s Executive Director Dr. Stephen Yamoah says, “Without these [EIA and grid studies], the project cannot progress.”

We have the expertise. IAEA said in August 2026 Ghana is technically ready for nuclear. We have the scrap. We have the farms that need tools. What we lack is a financing model that matches a 100-year asset.

On January 13, 2026, Bank of Ghana issued its final Guideline for Non-Interest Banking. Governor Dr. Johnson Asiama was clear: it is commercial banking, asset-backed, based on risk-sharing, fairness and transparency, open to all Ghanaians, and prohibits religious branding.

Instead of an interest loan that compounds while a project is delayed, GAEC can use two tools:

1. Istisna: NIB finances the manufacture and installation of the furnaces. GAEC only pays after the asset is delivered and producing. No interest during construction.

2. Ijara (Leasing):NIB owns the furnace and leases it to GAEC. GAEC pays rent from the sale of ploughs to District Assemblies.

For  Dagbon traders in Tamale, this model is ethical, tied to a real plough, not to money making money. The same trader is the end customer for the plough.

NIB is ready. After recapitalization, its assets stand at GH¢14.9 billion with CAR at 48.1%. Its Managing Director, Dr. Doli-Wura Zakaria,is on record to have once called for innovative financing for agriculture.

A pilot of GH¢50 million could complete the foundry. That foundry, running three shifts under the 24-hour economy policy, could produce 5,000 ploughs a year, employ 100 youth at Kwabena, and supply Mion and the entire Savannah zone.

The building is already there. The boats were designed. The depots in Kumasi and Takoradi were mapped. What we need is to move from abandonment to completion.