67th Independence Day Celebration
Government and Politics
Africa's Industrialization
Ghana's Industrial Revolution
The Ghanaian citizenry believe Industrialization can help the country rise again. The idea that Ghana should Industrialize began from the time of Ghana's first president Dr. Kwame Nkrumah.
His vision remains unfulfilled. Ghana experienced an economic boom in 1960's and after the overthrow of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah till date the country experience decline in manufacturing sector which contribute to GDP.
Dr. Kwame Nkrumah laid the foundation for Industrialization. However, the past governments did not pay critical attention to his vision and already built factories. The tone for Industrialization set by the first president of the republic of Ghana was destroyed after his overthrow.
This paved the way for foreign companies to take over the industrial space of the country. These foreign firms focused on the abundant natural resources of the country and later transcended to other areas of economic activities.
Today, the big corporations are foreign owned. Ghanaians struggle to set up factories but foreigners set up factories with ease and manage them perfectly as compared to local firms because the industrial structure of the country was in favour of foreigners after the overthrow of Kwame Nkrumah.
Ghanaians began to obtain high taste for foreign goods and neglected local. The system built around manufacturing in Ghana is not favourable and does not support local and infant industries because we import almost everything so our industries are not protected from outside competition to create a competitive local market for common items which we have comparative advantage over or have abundant resources to produce.
In 2007, Ghana re-denominated it currency which brought the country to a significant level of economic recovery. Because Ghana did not have industries to keep the currency exchange rates, Ghana had no option than to import almost everything. Ghana exchange it economy (money) for goods and services which compelled Ghana to borrow to finance government projects and some decifits.
Ghana's trade policies do not correspond to local manufacturing. Hence, making industrialization difficult to execute.
The Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo government had similar vision of Kwame Nkrumah to Industrialize the country through his one district one factory initiative. This policy was implemented but it did not succeed because his government never had the insights and ideas to make Ghana an Industrialized country.
Africans tend to use corruption as an excuse for the reason why they cannot create industrial platforms which will provide sound employment for their citizens. This assertion continue to resonate with the people therefore African governments fail in their attempt to Industrialize year on year or term by term.
The Industrialization problem of the African continent is not solely corruption but lack of knowledge and insights about Industrialization. Most leaders in the African region are clueless about Industrialization and trade policy.
These governments often times focus on economic growth not economic development. They focus on the macro economic indicators and leave the microeconomics to bare which directly affects economic agents (individuals, households and firms). They fail to analyze the current economic situation to fix the economy but rather they focus on Power retention and other economic activities which tend to obtain a decent level of macro economic stability.
In terms of infrastructural development, Ghana has experienced a tremendous boom as compared to Industrialization. Despite the boom in infrastructure, the logistics infrastructure needs critical attention to facilitate the movement of goods across regions and even across borders. There's lack of vision and strategic plan for the country and Africa as a whole which is causing inefficiencies and retardation in socio-economic development of the country.
Taking a critical look at the current policies and constitutional instruments of the country, Ghana will rise again if there are changes in the constitution and policies across sectors of the economy.
Supply Chain Data Links seek to Industrialize the Republic of Ghana through robust systems backed by supply chain principles and best practise.
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