Kwadwo Opare Hammond, the Managing Director of Precious Mineral Marketing Corporation (PMMC), has urged the government to regain ownership of Great Consolidated Diamond Ghana (GCDG).

The Ghana Diamond Company (GDC) in 2011 was renamed GCDG after the Jospong Group reportedly bought it for $17.5million.

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After paying $3.1 million upfront, the Jospong Group has been unable to pay the outstanding $14.3 million. It has also failed to revive the mine or pay its employees their severance package, Mr Hammond said on Adom FM’s anti-corruption flagship program, “Fabewoso” on Wednesday.

According to him, the Ghana Diamond Company was generating higher revenues to support the development in the country until the company was handed over to the private entity.

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“When it was owned by the government, we were making almost 17 million Cedis and last year, all the diamond we exported is not even up to 100,000 carats, it was just 2.8 million Cedis, which is very sad”, he said.

He however advised Joseph Siaw Agyapong, the CEO of Jospong to step away if he can’t hire “professionals” to do the work.

Watch a full segment of the show in the video above.