The former Vice Chancellor of the University of Ghana, Professor Ernest Aryeetey has dismissed the feasibility of the one-district-one factory policy by the New Patriotic Party.
The policy was one of the main campaign promises of the NPP ahead of the December elections. The policy is industralise Ghana and create jobs for the unemployed.
However, speaking at a Graphic-Stanbic business breakfast meeting in Accra, Tuesday February 14, Prof. Aryeetey stated that “I always say that since you are not going to create jobs in the short term in your cities, you’ve got to focus on rural districts. And how do you do it? It’s not going to be easy.
“I was very happy that in the government’s campaign to be elected, it did talk about one-district-one-factory [policy]. I don’t believe you can do that. I don’t believe you can do one-district-one-factory nor do I believe there is a need for it.”
Prof. Aryeetey added that “there is a need to have for each district of Ghana, an industrial development plan that will have a focus on transformation of the district economy and a focus on job creation, so, if that job creation, as a result of the plan, is coming through one factory, then so be it.”
“…it is the structure of the district economy that will determine what should be done there: maybe that structure is going to lead to more emphasis on agriculture, maybe that structure is going to lead on construction, maybe that structure is going to lead on services, depending on the skills set available.
“So, we need to have for every district, a plan in terms of what is going to change and how that change is going to lead to more jobs.
“And I would say in that plan, the emphasis should be on modernising agriculture because that’s what you have, that’s the potential that you have most, the idea here is to help fill that middle that is missing.”
