Information Minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah has indicated that the superior policies and the tactful management by the Nana Addo-led New Patriotic Party government has instilled investor confidence in the Ghanaian Economy.
While debating the President’s State of the Nation Address on the floor of Parliament Tuesday, the Ofoase-Ayirebi Member of Parliament noted for instance that the government’s solving of the power crisis (dumsor) created by the erstwhile Mahama administration has resuscitated the economy.
According to him, the situation which spanned a period of four years; from 2012 to 2016 literally crippled the economy and brought it to its knees, suffocating businesses and killing the vulnerable ones.
But now however, Mr Oppong Nkrumah says government’s efforts in fixing the problem, coupled with its industrialisation policy; One District One Factory has made Ghana a fertile ground for investment.
“Having resolved dumsor, the agenda for growth in industry and services has now got the best chances of success.
“Indeed even if we had no clear programmes for industry, just by solving dumsor, we created a stimulant for industry to function better than it was doing prior to 2016. Manufacturers who had no electricity to run their plants in 2016 no longer need to shut down their production for half a week,” he said.
In addition to the feat, the minister observed that government, as promised, is seeing to the construction of 181 factories which are at various stages of completion while over 50 factories of there are currently operational.
“But in addition to that Mr Speaker, we introduced the One District, One Factory Programme. The Akufo-Addo visionary targeted 275 factories at the start of this industrial development programme. Our colleagues on the side at that time in 2016 told us that the One District One Factory Program was not feasible.
“Mr Speaker by extension what it means is that if they were in power by now there would not be a One District One Factory programme; indeed there will be zero factories under such a programme of that sort,” he said adding that “Mr Speaker on any day, 181 is greater than zero.”
Advancing his argument, Mr Oppong Nkrumah intimated that the automobile industry is gradually gaining grounds in Ghana and would assume a full take if the automobile policy is approved,
“Not only has the Kantanka fleet now got room to embark on commercially viable production but other brands; Toyota, VW, Renault, Suzuki are now heading to Ghana,” he stated.
“Not only those; bauxite is now establishing its footprint after the establishment of the Ghana Integrated Aluminium Development Corporation…
“The iron and steel industry is also expected to grow” he underscored.
“And while we continue all of these, we are also working to reduce the burden the energy sector imposes on our fiscal position through the energy sector reorganization programme,” he stressed.
Aside from these, the MP also touted government’s achievements in several other sectors including Agriculture and Finance as well as peace stability.
