Dr. Nicholas Zangina, a member of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) communications team in the Upper East Region, has described the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) flagship One District One Factory (1D1F) initiative as political rhetoric that failed largely because of poor planning, underfunding, and lack of practical industrial linkages.
Dr. Zangina said that while the vision of establishing a factory in every district was laudable, the actual implementation fell far short of transforming the economy. “It is an agenda for economic transformation in that regard. But the implementation was where we got it wrong,” he noted.
According to him, many of the proposed factories never took off, while others operated in isolation without proper value chain integration. “As we speak today, my district doesn’t even know where the factory is supposed to be built,” he said. He added that government only attempted to involve the private sector at the tail end, which by then had made the policy unattractive to investors.
Dr. Zangina argued that any large-scale industrialization program requires dedicated funding, technical expertise, and a clear plan to integrate factories into existing local economies. Instead, he said, the NPP government underestimated the cost and complexity of such an initiative and only later sought tax waivers and private sector support when it was too late to build momentum.
He pointed out that the location of some factories was also questionable, citing examples like setting up a shea butter factory outside the shea-producing northern belt or planning a tomato factory without ensuring a consistent supply of raw materials. “Factories need to be sustainable, running all year round. But some districts do not have those resources in abundance,” he explained.
Dr. Zangina, who was speaking on A1 Radio, was asked why the NDC wouldn’t simply improve the 1D1F rather than cancel it. He argued that every government has its priorities, and the NDC would rather channel limited resources into its own 24-hour economy policy. He acknowledged that 1D1F as an idea was “good,” but insisted that the policy lacked a funding framework, making it impossible to sustain.
“We inherited a mismanaged economy; we cannot use our limited resources to fix someone else’s flawed policy. We have our own priorities,” he added.
Source: A1Radioonline.com|101.1Mhz|Joshua Asaah|Bolgatanga
