Our local industries need support
Ghana’s economy has been facing structural deficiencies since independence. Generally, it looks like an economy modelled to support advanced societies.
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From time immemorial we have been importers of finished products of all kinds. Our first President, Dr Kwame Nkrumah, tried the import-substitution strategy but he did not stay in power for long to implement that initiative.
That policy informed the establishment of the Ghana Industrial Holding Corporation (GIHOC), the creation of the enabling environment to encourage private people to establish businesses and the setting up of state farms across the country to produce raw materials to feed the factories.
It is sad that although we have abundant human and material resources, our country still goes round the world begging for handouts to balance its budget, carry out development projects and sometimes even feed its people.
General Kutu Acheampong, for all his faults, ventured into agriculture with a policy dubbed: ‘Operation Feed Yourself (OFY)’, and succeeded in producing food in abundance to feed the people and for export.
Ever since that bold initiative, the country has been groping in the dark to find local substitutes for imports of every kind, such as tomatoes, onions, oranges, toothpick, used underwear, used lorry tyres, used cooking utensils, and used refrigerators. The list is inexhaustible.
Successive governments have also tried to promote the patronage of made-in-Ghana goods, with very little success to show for it.
Just this week, President John Mahama launched a campaign to promote made-in-Ghana goods and yesterday he inaugurated a new electricity meter production factory at Amrahia, near Accra, known as Intelligent Metering and Energy Solutions (IMES). The company has the capacity to produce 500,000 meters, also known as smart meters, annually.
Frankly speaking, our market of about 27 million people looks small for anyone who cannot find a market beyond our borders. That is why our leaders should explore benefits in ECOWAS protocols to harmonise markets in the West African sub-region.
However, the Daily Graphic believes that going forward, the government, as the biggest employer and contractor, must show the way by directing all state agencies to purchase items that are available locally.
This is where we recall, with regret, the decision of Parliament and the Judicial Service to travel to far away China to buy furniture to refurbish Parliament and the court complex.
We are told that the former GIHOC Shoe Factory, now known as DIHOC, risks folding up because apart from the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF), no other security agency is buying the company’s footwear.
We also know of the difficulties that customers go through in acquiring meters for electricity and water for industrial or domestic use.
We remind all — the government, business people, government agencies and consumers — that unless we drop the taste for everything foreign, our economy will remain fragile and unable to sustain even the basic needs of the people.