Sankofa Reforms Movement has stated that the flagship programme of the Akufo-Addo’s government, one-district-one factory will be a white elephant if not implemented well.
According to the group, the programme will collapse if factories are built without the necessary raw materials.
In a statement issued by executives of Sankofa Reforms Movement, it said ‘You cannot build a factory based on agriculture and lack the materials of production’.
The group advised the President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to learn from the mistakes of National Democratic Congress (NDC) which couldn’t sustain the Komenda Sugar factory.
‘Nana Addo do not let one district one factory become like Komenda Sugar factory. Ghana is watching and Sankofa Reforms Movement is watching,’ it said.
Read details of the statement:
NPP ONE DISTRICT ONE FACTORY PROGRAM WILL BE WHITE ELEPHANT PROJECTS IF IT IS NOT IMPLEMENTED PROPERLY
We have been watching with keen interest as to how NPP is going to implement its flagship program “one district one factory”. This is a great program which if implemented well will present a lasting solution to the unemployment problems in Ghana. It will create more jobs people from other countries will flock to Ghana for employment.
This idea of one district one factory was first discussed on Akwantufuo radio Nsesai Bre Program provided by The Sankofa Reforms Movement. Sankofa Movement is a non- partisan political movement with membership in all 10 regions of Ghana and in every community from every political party in the country.
Ghana First is the Mantra. The idea of one district one factory is premised on agro based industries to make Ghana self- reliant. We grow what we eat and eat what we grow thus limiting importation of food products from other countries but export food to other countries in Africa and the rest of the world.
The importation of food is the main reason the value of the cedi is not stable. Ghana imports 2.1 billion dollars of grains from the United States alone each year. Meanwhile we have the most fertile and arable lands for agriculture than any part of the world. We are located in the tropical region with good rainfall patterns. We are located right in the middle of the globe in an equatorial region. It is mind boggling that Ghana will import plantains from Ivory Coast, corn from Togo and tomatoes from Burkina Faso. We at Sankofa reforms movement were elated when NPP adopted the one district one factory idea.
However we have been waiting to see the implementation of the program but what we are seeing is what prompted us to present this press release. The question everyone has to ask is why did Komenda Sugar factory failed? You cannot build a factory based on agriculture and lack the materials of production. When the sugar factory failed the first time the problem was insufficient sugar cane.
When the NDC government revived the factory one would have expected that the lack of sugarcane would have been addressed, but it was not. The government sank millions of dollars of hard earned foreign exchange into the projects that have become a white elephant project.
The question is NPP going to repeat the same mistakes of the NDC government by building factories without the necessary raw materials. We are inclined to believe that NPP government of President Akufo- Addo is going to repeat the same mistakes of the past government by building 250 factories without the necessary raw materials for the factories.
The government is encouraging people to get into agriculture without addressing the basic problem of the land tenure system in Ghana that is how land is acquired or owned in Ghana. Secondary, those who will go into agriculture needs capital. Giving grants for individuals to go into farming is not the best way to handle the issues of long term productive agriculture.
It rather becomes avenue for individuals to pilfer the scarce resources of the country. Let us not forget SADA, GYEEDA etc. We are therefore asking government to work with banks to give agricultural loans with reasonable interest rates that will encourage individuals to take to farming with the hope that the produce will be purchased and that they will not have produced that they cannot sell. 35 to 40% interest rate charged by banks as interest on loans is not reasonable for serious business. Let us remember how lot of people went into cassava production, taking loans to produce so as to sell to the starch factory implemented under Allen Kyeremanten and the Kuffour NPP administration, but ended up with debts because the factories could not buy all the cassava. The time the factories needed the cassava the farmers had stopped production. Not much planning went into the starch factory.
The UN has forecast 90% of the youth of Ghana will be living in cities and towns by 2020. What is government doing to reverse the trend of migration to the cities? We do not see any concrete plan to reverse the trend of migration to the cities.
How does the country feed all the industries with raw materials without the youth being in the farms but living in the cities? 6 months into NPP administration and we are not seeing anything concrete plans toward the effective implementation of the one district one factory projects. The farms and the factories must be going on simultaneously but we are not seeing that.
There is no concerted effort to give hope to the youth of the country who are losing hope. Ghanaians believe in Nana Addo. If he talks to the youth and back his promises with action the youth will listen.
Nana Addo do not let one district one factory become like Komenda Sugar factory. Ghana is watching and Sankofa Reforms Movement is watching.
Presented by:
Oseadeyo Kofi Ntim Agyarko
Founder Sankofa Reforms Movement
Mr Ebenezer Ayeh Chairman
Mr. Kwame Akowuah President.
By: Ghana/Ultimatefmonline.com/106.9FM
The post One district-one-factory will be white elephant if not properly implemented- Sankofa Movement appeared first on Ultimate FM.
Sankofa Reforms Movement has stated that the flagship programme of the Akufo-Addo’s government, one-district-one factory will be a white elephant if not implemented well. According to the group, the programme will collapse if factories are built without the necessary raw materials. In a statement issued by executives of Sankofa Reforms Movement, it said ‘You cannot build a […]
The post One district-one-factory will be white elephant if not properly implemented- Sankofa Movement appeared first on Ultimate FM.
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