Former Trade and Industry Minister, Alan Kwadwo Kyerematen has voiced his aversion for what he sees as a malaise of the country and which he says is symptomatic of the international body, NATO – all talk and no action.
He says national policy direction should be clear enough to everyone in the country and that practical steps be taken to achieve them and usher the nation into desired development, rather than talk all the time about the same issues.
“I’m beginning to lose appetite for gatherings of this nature because our country is gradually turning itself into a NATO country, no action, talk only,” he told participants at the 2nd Graphic Business/Fidelity Breakfast Meeting in Accra Tuesday, which sought solutions to better position Ghana’s exports and thereby grow the economy.
Rather than sermonizing and wasting everybody’s time, he said he preferred to table practical solutions that must be implemented to see Ghana turn around her perennial trade imbalance.
First, he said what we need to do is to put in an export-led growth strategy at the centre of our national development agenda – saying that “if that is not at the centre of your national development agenda, there is obviously no way that you’ll focus on it.”
Besides, he was not sure, subject to correction, that the policy has been projected with any clarity that it is a national agenda to be pursued, save for the talk and elements of it scattered from time to time.
“The obvious, remarkable growth of China into a global economic power, was due to two things – exports and investments – and I think they did so with clarity by developing an export-led strategy agenda.”
He said it should be clear to everyone that this is a national policy, following which new strategic growth pillars need to be identified to expand the export base of the country.
Listen to Alan Kyerematen's full address
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