What we missed at Senchi
We are waiting patiently for the efforts at the National Economic Forum held at Senchi in the Eastern Region to bear fruits that will reflect positively on our distressed economy.
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While we wait for this to happen, there are some simple truths about the state of affairs of our economy that do not need the skills of economic experts to bring them home to us. We continue to export manganese and bauxite in their raw forms when we know that for any country to achieve industrial or economic breakthrough, it must be able to make full use of its natural resources.
Bauxite in particular has the potential to change the industrial environment of our country if we can exploit its potency to the fullest. This mineral, which is the backbone of any integrated aluminium industry, is in abundance in the country. We have enough salt, which is also an essential mineral in the aluminium industry. Last but not least, energy, which is the driving force of any aluminium smelter, is not beyond our reach.
What we have been lacking for years is a leadership with the vision, the drive, the determination and the capacity to take that bold decision to set the country on a path of industrialisation.
For years, we have taken pride in exporting raw cocoa beans. Countries such as Malaysia and Brazil who were in the same league with us as cocoa exporters have long shifted focus and are now big processors of cocoa. On our streets and in major shops could be found a canned cocoa drink bearing the Milo brand name. This product comes from Malaysia. So while we are celebrating the tonnage of our raw cocoa beans, others are counting the enormous wealth processed cocoa has brought to them.
Malaysians believe they do not have to descend into the bowels of the earth to look for wealth. Their great reliance is on the palm tree, the seedlings of which they took from Ghana soon after their independence, a few months after we had attained ours in 1957.
Today, Malaysia does not rely on the sale of raw palm fruits. It has been able to transform its economy as a major producer of detergents and cosmetics using the oil produced from the palm fruits. Where are we? At best we tap palm wine and make edible oil for the domestic market, which is below the industrial use of the palm fruit by a country that got its first seedlings from our country.
Today, if China has developed intimate relations with Africa, it is because it knows the continent has the raw materials it needs to oil its huge industrial machine. Why can't we also learn to process our raw materials and extricate ourselves from the jaws of poverty, disease, illiteracy and ignorance?
Over the years, our leaders have specialised in daydreaming, conjuring, designing and erecting projects which remain products of their fanciful imagination without touching the ground.
You can make reference to speeches delivered on campaign platforms, at seminars and workshops and you will wonder why this country is in this miserable state.
We already have a modern railway linking Jamestown in Accra and Paga (near the border) with Burkina Faso. There is a modern international airport near Prampram which is also hosting a modern Olympic stadium. Both the Afram and Accra plains have come under irrigation with waters from the Volta. There is a flyover at the Tema-end of the Accra-Tema Motorway. The list is long and you could begin to appreciate the number of asphalted roads we have in the country, thanks to the magnanimity of our leaders.
Forums such as the one held at Senchi are necessary for the short-term reliefs they offer, if at all. Our problems go beyond a few days' talk shop by theorists who lack the pragmatism, the deliberate and conscious mentality to push forward a national development agenda.
Our brand of democracy is draining the country of scarce resources and keeping us entangled in wrong application of vital human talent. Monies have gone to the wrong places while almost every public institution is suffocating under the 'no money' syndrome.
We cannot continue to blame the misfortunes of history for our present status. We are in a global village and we do not expect to remain oblivious to the conditions in the global environment. But as long as we are determined to rely on the generosity of others for our national survival, it means even in the midst of all the global problems, there is the possibility to advance once we put into motion the right strategies and pursue them vigorously with religious fervour.
