Alan Kyerematen on why Ghana should think beyond cocoa

The Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr John Alan Kwadwo Kyerematen thinks that it is an indictment on the part of Ghana not to think beyond cocoa.

According to him, the time has come for the country not to overly depend on cocoa for its revenue generation and the development of the economy.

He notes that many of developed nations achieved their development status through industrialisation, hence the need for the country to embrace industrialisation.

Mr Kyerematen was speaking at a panel session at the opening ceremony of the Results Fair organised by the Ministry of Monitoring and Evaluation in Accra on Tuesday, [January 14, 2020.]

The 3-day Result Fair, being organised under the theme: “Delivery results for citizens work in progress” is under the auspices of the Ministry of Monitoring and Evaluation.

The move is to enable Ministries, Departments and Agencies of the government to interact with citizens, civil society and the media to explain the progress of implementation and achievements of government’s flagship programmes and other strategic interventions.

Mr Kyeremanten said it was only through industrialisation that Ghana’s economy could be transformed, pointing out that it was based on this premise that the Akufo-Addo-led New Patriotic Party (NPP) has embarked on massive industrialisation programmes, including the One District One Factory (1D1F) initiative.

He explained that the 1D1F initiative by far is Ghana’s most industrialisation focused programme before and after independence.

He said the government was providing the various supportive mechanisms to the project under the 1D1F, pointing out that the 1D1F initiative does not mean that the government was going to establish new State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs).

Mr Kyeremanten said the 1D1F initiative was a programme meant to be led by the private sector, stressing that the country would soon become an industrialised one.

He was of the view that for Ghana to become an industrialised one, there is the need to shift from over-dependence on foreign products to enhancing the capacities of local industries to produce more.