Let’s support Apostle Safo’s initiatives
The Kantanka Group of Companies, led by Apostle Kwadwo Safo, last Wednesday took a great step towards living the Ghanaian dream when it presented one of its locally manufactured vehicles to the Ghana Police Service.
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The “Kantanka Omama” pick-up is to be used to assist the police in their quest to combat crime in the country.
By the move, the Ghana Police Service becomes the first public institution to use a locally manufactured vehicle, more so one from the camp of the Kantanka Group.
For many years now Apostle Safo and his group of dedicated engineers have made the headlines following their ground-breaking strides in the manufacture of electronic gadgets and machinery that are alien to the manufacturing industry in the country.
Over the period, not many testimonies have come into the public regarding some of the gadgets because production has not been on a mass scale.
With the presentation of the vehicle, an opportunity has been provided for public evaluation and testimony of an innovative enterprise by a Ghanaian.
At another level, however, the success of the Kantanka Group brings to the fore the capacity of the Ghanaian to rise to the occasion given the needed impetus.
The Daily Graphic believes that there are many other people with bright and innovative ideas who have made some attempts to put their ideas to practical ends but those innovations have been short-lived because of our proclivity for foreign goods, to the neglect of local ones.
Quite often, one major reason adduced for the non-patronage of local goods is their poor quality.
While this may be palpably true in some instances, it does not erode the fact that a journey of a thousand miles begins with a step.
The developed countries from which we buy did not start their manufacturing from a level of perfection. They started from somewhere and made gradual progress till they attained excellence.
But if we must move forward as a nation, then the first step that must be considered is to adopt a sense of harnessing our inherent potential for our own good.
Ghanaians were surprised to learn quite recently that Parliament and the Judicial Service, two of the three arms of government, had imported items from China that could have been manufactured here by local craftsmen.
We must not lose sight of the fact that as a country, the solution to our problems lies in our own hands and that no amount of donor support or bailouts from international institutions can take us where we aspire to reach.
To be able to find permanent solutions to our development challenges, we must begin to look within.
We must be guided by the words in a poem taught in the elementary school: “In all things look to yourself first; you have all things and you will never thirst. Your land has many things great and good. Rich soils, minerals and other things”.
Until, we learn to appreciate, support and patronise the goods and services of our local manufacturers and provide them with feedback to better their output, we will continue to develop the economies of already advanced countries.