Pratt accuses government of propaganda and deception
Managing Editor of the Insight Newspaper, Kwesi Pratt Jnr, has accused the government of repainting gates of existing companies and renaming them as part of the One District – One Factory programme.
The veteran journalist cited the case of a
Read full articlemotor assembling plant in the Northern Regional capital, Tamale, as one of such cases.
Speaking on the 'Good Morning Ghana' programme, Pratt told host Randy Abbey that the government was relying on propaganda and deception instead of rolling our robust interventions to deal with the economic slump.
He stated that the propaganda had scuttled the good policy idea of planned industrialization and a move to reduce importation and by so doing stabilize the cedi, “so from a policy perspective, this was something that we all needed to support.
“But what did we do in reality, we went to Tamale, saw an already existing Motor King Assembling plant, painted the gate and declared it One District - One Factory.
“The point I want to make is made by the Motorking Assembling Plant in Tamale, we repainted the gate and declared it One District - One Factory, achievement. So, it is this propaganda, the deception which has led us here,” he stressed.
He laments importation of toothpicks and called it unacceptable, “your cedi will continue to fall, the situation in which we are virtually importing everything.
“Instead of genuinely tackling the problem with a realistic plan, we are interested in throwing things about, propaganda.”
The One District One Factory (1D1F) initiative is the vision of His Excellency the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to change the nature of Ghana’s economy from one which is dependent on import and export of raw material to one which is focused on manufacturing, value addition and export of processed goods. These raw materials are largely found in the districts which would have otherwise gone waste.
The initiative as proposed by His Excellency Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo is private sector-led. Government creates the necessary conducive environment for the businesses to access funding from financial institutions and other support services from Government agencies to establish factories.
Ghanaian entrepreneurs will thus own the companies, operate them and bear all the risks and rewards of the projects.
