Dominic Anarigide has opined that successive governments have only paid lip service to industrialization. This, according to Mr. Anarigide, has had dire effects on the structure, size and growth trajectory of the economy.
He said this when he spoke on A1 Radio’s Day Break Upper East Show today, Thursday, September 15, 2021.
“After Dr. Kwame Nkrumah whose vision was to industrialize this country and make us self-reliant, with his 7-year development plan, even though his vision had a few challenges, [no government has come close]. After him, I have not seen the implementation of any policy by any government to make us self-reliant [through industrialization].”
“What has happened is to pay lip service and talk about it. The political will to ensure that government policies are implemented to ensure self-reliance isn’t done. It is something we have to pay critical attention to.”
Mr. Anarigide’s comments were in response to the government’s performance on the steps it needs to take in order to achieve a Ghana beyond aid.
It would be recalled that the NPP, ahead of the 2020 general elections said this: “Building on the “One District, One Factory” and “Strategic Anchor Industries” policies, we will continue to promote agro-processing, including cocoa processing, add value to our minerals and petro-chemicals, promote labour-intensive and light manufacturing activities, continue the development of the Aluminium, Iron and Steel industries along their entire value chains through GIADEC and GIISDEC, establish a Development Bank to mobilise long-term capital for lending through banks for large-scale agricultural and industrial projects, and leverage our Regional Hub status and as hosts for the Secretariat of the AfCFTA to expand our access to regional and continental markets.”
Mr. Anarigide thought that the government’s thought on industrialization needs to go beyond just being a plan.
“What we can do is to invest heavily in this economy. It should be deliberate that we want to bring about industrialization in this country. The export of raw materials should stop. If you are exporting raw materials at this age, you are not able to rake in enough foreign exchange. That is the reason why most of the time, we are struggling with our current.”
According to the Economist, Ghana’s best bet is to consider a very effective import-substitution policy where “what are producing, we should not import into the country.”
Source: A1radioonline.com|101.1MHz|Mark Kwasi Ahumah Smith|Ghana
