In the Ambassador’s view, President Akufo-Addo is “more visionary than some recent Ghanaian leaders.”

[contextly_sidebar id=”yua8RAVKO876k5VNshJALLDMHzlzlTQO”]Commenting on the Akufo-Addo administration’s ‘Ghana Without Aid’ agenda on online news portal, Ghanaweb’s 21 Minutes show, Mr. Jackson was optimistic that “Ghana will get beyond aid and I think it will happen sooner rather than later.”

In the interview, he noted that despite being a long-term plan, the one-district-one-factory policy is key to this vision.

“President Akufo-Addo’s vision of one-district-one-factory may not be realized within his first term or even his first term, if he get’s one. But the idea is exactly what is needed to get beyond aid; that you have to industrialize, that you build your industrial base, that you create jobs so that people do not want to trek across the desert and be potentially enslaved in Libya or even if they make it to Libya, drown in the Mediterranean.”

The one-district-one-factory initiative is intended to leverage the private sector to set up at least one medium to large scale industrial enterprise in each district of Ghana.

The government’s hope is that this will equip and empower communities to utilize their local resources in manufacturing products in a bid to increase agricultural and manufacturing output, reduce reliance on imports and increase the production of consumer goods and food availability.

For Mr. Jackson, the current administration’s willingness to rely on private sector for development is more critical to an economic turnaround.

“I think ex-president Mahama had a vision too, so I want to give him credit where credit is due, his emphasis was on infrastructure, which is very important – schools, clinics, hospitals, roads; President Mahama did a lot for this country,” he said.

But in the Ambassador’s view, President Akufo-Addo’s decision to “make the private sector the engine of growth rather than government being the driving force is how I see the difference between the two of them. Both of them had visions for the country, I think President Akufo-Addo’s vision of private sector-led growth is likely to create more jobs and propel the economy forward faster than the infrastructure investments, but the infrastructure investments were important.”

Ghana’s growth prospects

As evidence of the progress of the economy, President Akufo-Addo, during his 2018 State of the Nation address, cited the strong trajectory of the Ghana Stock Exchange Composite Index in January 2018, which gained 19 percent in dollar terms, according to benchmarks tracked by Bloomberg.

The World Bank has also projected that Ghana’s economy will probably grow by 8.3 percent this year, which will be the fastest in the world in 2018.

The President said he expects these improving macroeconomic indicators to usher Ghana out of the International Monetary Fund programme later this year, after his administration extended the 2015 programme.

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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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A cassava processing plant will be constructed at Diare, a Sugarcane factory at Kadia and a tomato processing factory at Nabogu.

[contextly_sidebar id=”U03gKQ0PjQf1G8kNerkIqov9pPqHhhBw”]These initiatives are intended to improve the earnings of smallholder farmers and also to create jobs for the unemployed masses.

One of the shortlisted companies, PT&T Ghana Limited has been given the license to establish the cassava processing factory on site.

The Chief Executive Officer of PT&T Ghana Ltd, Prince Mohammed Toufik Tikomah, at a media briefing, promised to complete the factory on schedule.

According to him, smallholder farmers would be supported with stimulus packages and farm inputs including subsidized fertilizer to improve their yields.

He gave the assurance that the support would be regular in order to enable the farmers to meet the estimated targets for the factory’s sustainability.

“The company will buy the cassava products from farmers in the area and each farmer will subsequently be given a bank account where their monies will be deposited,” he said

Prince Toufik Tikumah added that “The health conditions of the farmers will be taken care of. Farmers who will be employed in the company will enjoy periodic screening to ensure that they are healthy.”

The Savelugu-Nanton Municipal Chief Executive (MCE), Hajia Ayishetu Seidu, noted that the government is investing GHc9 million in the cassava processing factory.

She stated that ‘the factory will help increase the income of hardworking farmers and create employment for the  youth which is expected to reduce the high rate of urban-rural migration in the area.”

She said her administration will closely monitor and coordinate the factory’s operations to ensure its success.

Traditional leaders in the district promised to allocate grazing sites for the herds of nomadic herdsmen prevent the destruction of farmlands.

Smallholder farmers in the municipality thanked the government for the opportunity and vowed to take advantage of it to improve their livelihood.

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo gave assurances during his campaign, which he reiterated last year, that each of the 216 districts across the country would get a factory during his administration.

According to him, the setting up of these factories across the country, will not only ensure the rapid industrialization of Ghana’s economy but also, result in the creation of thousands of jobs, needed by the masses of unemployed Ghanaian youth.

Each district to get Ghc2m for 1 district, 1 factory
The Ministry of Finance while reading the 2018 budget statement said the government will allocate at least GhC2 million to each metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies for the implementation of the one district, one factory programme.

During the presentation of the 2018 budget statement, the Minister said that 191 companies had already been selected for implementation

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According to the Chief Executive of the Plan, John Kumah, the NEIP will commission 29 factories in February as part of the government’s flagship one-district, one-factory programme.

[contextly_sidebar id=”Tywp6LLluQq8gu0MHYLpDOPrJJSot0x0″]“We are supposed to help create industrial subcontracting arrangements for young people who want to do business and succeed. We have designed a programme we call the NEIP industrialization project and that will feed into the one-district, one-factory agenda of government. At the moment, we are about to commission about 29 factories, in partnership with Exim Bank Ghana and the Venture Capital Fund. We have very critical businesses and factories lined up,” he said on Eyewitness News on Friday.

“By February, we are doing this in partnership with some Indian partners Exim and Venture Capital. What we are doing is to establish these factories and get private young people that we are training.”

John Kumah noted that, the NEIP had received applications from over 7, 000 startups for financial and technical support from the government.

He stated that some of those businesses which aren’t approved for support from the Plan, but who align with the factories could be engaged to run the factories with the view of taking over fully in the next five years.

“Those who won’t even receive funding in the 7, 000 applications, some of them whose businesses fall in line with these factories, can be engaged to become the owners. So you run to pay back those investments into Exim Bank or the Venture Capital Fund and then you become the eventual owners of those factories after five to seven years,” he said.

‘20, 000 indirect jobs’

The project, which is being funded by the Exim Bank and the Venture Capital Fund is being undertaken in collaboration with India who are responsible for the construction of the factories.

John Kumah also indicated that, aside from the 5, 000 jobs that would be created directly from the commissioning of these factories, over 20, 000 people were expected to be employed indirectly as well.

“We are hoping to create about 5, 000 jobs out of these 29 factories. The Indians are helping to build and bring the machinery. Exim Bank, Venture Capital Fund and NEIP will be paying for it, and then the private young businesses that we are bringing up, will run it, pay for it and become eventual owners,” he said.

“That will also help create a number of jobs. We can create about 20, 000 indirect jobs from the NEIP Industrialization project alone. All this is this year, 2018.”

NEIP gets funding boost

The NEIP received a major boost last July when President Nana Akufo-Addo announced that government has set up a 100 million dollar package to fund the plan.

Outlining four main challenges to be solved by the NEIP, the president stated at the time that “the overall objective of this plan is to stimulate private sector growth to accelerate job creation and to provide entrepreneurial Ghanaian youth with a critical alternative to salaried appointment.”

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By: Edwin Kwakofi/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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He called for more support from Government for indigenous private businesses to collaborate with local authorities for the selection and efficient execution of the initiative to the benefit of the communities and growth of the private sector.

Dr. Siaw Agyepong made this observation on the second day of the 69th annual New Year School and Conference at the Great Hall of the University of Ghana, Legon on Tuesday.

This year’s theme for the New Year School is: “Job Creation for Accelerated National Development: The Role of the Private Sector,” and it was organised by the School of Continuing and Distance Education of the University of Ghana, Legon.

He said efforts aimed at creating jobs should not be focused on the formal sector only, stating that “the informal sector has the potential to generate a good number of jobs. The essential need is to exert some of direction and control in this sector.”

Dr. Agyepong bemoaned the politicization of businesses, which he said usually occurs after a change of government, adding that the practice was unhealthy.

To this end, he stressed the need for successive governments to ensure continuity of businesses to promote growth of local entrepreneurs.

Using Zoomlion as a case in point, Dr. Siaw Agyepong enumerated the waste management company’s various achievements since its establishment in 2006, including creating jobs for thousands of Ghanaians, and called for the protection of local industries.

Speaking on the topic: “The Private Sector Participation in Local Governance for Job Creation,” the Zoomlion boss called for more collaboration to enable local private companies to undertake government projects.

He commended successive governments for their efforts at reducing unemployment but urged that more efforts must be “put into the talk to make it a reality.”

He said the Jospong Group of Companies has collaborated with the public sector in areas including waste management, sanitation, environmental hygiene, agro-based industrialisation among others to create jobs.

Against this backdrop, Dr. Siaw Agyapong affirmed his Group’s commitment to collaborating with local government authorities in order to create jobs for the teeming youth in the country.

In his estimation, there was a need for government to promote sustainable partnership arrangements to engage and empower the private sector

“Leveraging our investments in the local government sector to sustain continuous and inclusive development at the grassroots level is key,” he noted.

These partnership models that would be created, he suggested, should subsist “our political and governance cycles and Ghanaian entrepreneurs on their part should exhibit high level of professionalism so that they are not unduly branded.

“Emphasis on local content is key, empowering indigenous Ghanaian companies is key, local collaboration to undertake government projects should be encouraged and stimulus packages to local private sector should be implemented.

” I believe we are on the right track and as a Group of Company; we would do our best to support government to create sustainable jobs. Indeed, we have the skills set to continue in that path.

“All that we in the Private Sector have to do is to continually re-examine our business creating models for the mutual benefit of both the public and the private sectors.

“When this is done we will be placed on the right track of creating jobs and entrepreneurial skills to help harness the powerful potential of creativity in our teeming youth,” Dr. Agyepong pointed out.

The Session was chaired by Dr Nana Ato Arthur, Head of the Local Government Service.

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By: citifmonline.com/Ghana

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During the presentation of the 2018 budget statement, the Minister said that 191 companies have been selected for implementation.

[contextly_sidebar id=”Bzrue10c1KnAQLCaksAzDIDW5daB8Nov”]“The Ministry of Trade and Industry completed technical, financial and commercial viability analysis of 462 proposals, out of which 191 covering 102 districts were selected for implementation. It is envisaged that these 191 District Enterprise projects will collectively generate about 250,000 direct and indirect jobs,” he said on the floor of Parliament.

35 of these companies will be in the Ashanti Region, 19 in the Brong Ahafo, 21 in the Central Region and 28 in the Greater Accra Region.

The Northern Region will have 17, the Upper East 4, Upper West 5, Western Region 10, and the Volta Region with 18.

“Out of the 191 projects selected for implementation, 104 will be operating in the agribusiness sector, whilst 20 are businesses in the meat and poultry sector. 40 of these companies will be operating in the construction and building materials sub-sector, whilst the remaining 27 are businesses operating in the cosmetics and pharmaceuticals sectors.

The President, Nana Akufo-Addo, launched the one district, one factory policy on August 25, 2017. At the launch, the president said that the programme will drive industrialization across the country.

Since its launch, the Chinese government’s private sector development corporation has pumped in $2 billion, with the Turkish government promising to partner Ghana to support the programme.

On November 14, the Vice President, Dr. Mahamadu Bawumia, cut sod for the establishment of a new cement factory under the programme.

The factory is 90 percent owned by the Iranian government, whereas a Ghanaian partner has ten percent shares in it.

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By: Jeffrey Owuraku Sarpong/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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The $30 million Ilam Cement factory will be located at Dawa Industrial City in Accra, and it is expected to be completed in two years.

The factory also falls under the Akufo-Addo administration’s One-District-One-Factory programme.

90% of the factory is however foreign-owned by Iran, whilst a Ghanaian individual owns 10% of the business.

The agreement for its construction was signed when the Dr. Bawumia visited Iran in August 2017, for the inauguration of Iranian President, Hassan Rouhani.

This factory is expected to bolster the Akufo-Addo administration’s efforts to bolster Ghana’s industrial and infrastructure development.

“To ensure the development of a country, it is necessary to have some key development tools and you would also agree with me that one of the characteristics is growing infrastructure. It is an undeniable fact that we cannot have all these beautiful buildings, factories, bridges  and roads without the affordable and regular supply of cement in large quantities.”

Dr. Bawumia also said this factory “will create the needed competition in the industry to reduce the unit cost of cement for the ordinary Ghanaian.”

Cement prices currently hover between GHc 26 and GHc 29.

The Minister of Agriculture of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Hon.Mahmoud Hojjati, had earlier on Tuesday led a delegation to see Dr. Bawumia, ahead of the 6th session of the Ghana-Iran Permanent Joint Commission for Cooperation.

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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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According to the Paramount Chief, measures are being taken at the local level by stakeholders in the Volta Region in tandem with the National Policy of establishing industries in each district.

He said the region has already taken the lead with a fertilizer production company at Juapong, which aims at providing jobs for the people and stimulating local economy.

[contextly_sidebar id=”FJnYhrae5ZQKgtCOmV5SImiOeR8k29Ns”]Togbe Afede also mentioned the expansion of the Ho Airport project, and said the region is in consultation with the Ministry of Aviation to establish an Aviation School in Ho, as well as an Aircraft Repair and Maintenance Organization which sought to make the project commercially viable.

“We are taking maximum advantage of the government’s programmes. We have just registered a fertilizer project at Juapong under the one district –one factory initiative. We are also working hard with government to ensure that the Ho airport becomes commercially viable. Among others, we are thinking of working with government to locate a flight training school in Ho and possibly an Airport Repair and Maintenance Organization” he stated

As part of government’s policy dubbed “One District- One Factory”, each local authority in the country is to benefit from a production company that would provide ready market or commercialize staple crops produced in the area.

Speaking at this year’s Asogli Festival Celebrations, the Paramount Chief called on the people of the region to fully harness the opportunities that such government interventions present to enhance their lives.

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By: King Norbert Akpablie/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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The acting Omanhene of the New Juaben Tradition Area disclosed this in an interview with Citi News at the maiden town hall meeting held at the New Juaben Municipal Assembly in Koforidua on Tuesday.

He accused the Eastern Regional Lands Commission of selling all lands in the Municipality including vested lands without the knowledge of the traditional authorities.

“We have a problem with New Juaben lands now because the executive instrument (EI 195) which gave the then Nkrumah government the power to hold the Koforidua and Nkawkaw lands have all been sold by the Regional Lands Commission office. Those lands are all vested lands and it does not mean the lands are solely for government but government is holding those lands in trust for the Chiefs.”

“The executives of the Lands Commission here have taken undue advantage of the executive instrument and are selling all the lands in the municipality and even beyond, they have gone as far as to sell lands beyond Koforidua which are Asokore, Oyoko, Jumapo, Sushyen, Akwadum and I must say all those places are not vested but they are riding on this executive instrument to sell the lands anyhow,” he added.

Baffour Tutu said “if the government ask us to provide lands for the flagship program one district one factory I must say it will be very difficult to make available any land because the Regional Lands Commission has sold all the lands, they have sold the lands among themselves and it will be a challenge to identify a portion of land in the municipality for any developmental project.”

Krontihene pleaded with government to intervene to bring sanity to the Lands Commission.

“We reported this issue to the previous government and when power shifted we informed President Nana Addo about it when he came for the thank you tour, we also told the Eastern Regional Minister about this same issue when he paid a courtesy call on Nananom at the palace when he took office after his appointment and he asked for a written statement on it so a committee was immediately constituted to see to that, as I speak a proposal have been drafted and sent to the traditional authority which will be forwarded to government soon. The three Northern Regions used to face the same problem until the government intervened so we want this government to take the necessary steps to give us back our lands,” the acting Omanhene added.

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By: Neil Nii Amatey Kanarku/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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He said this would be part of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government’s policy of establishing a factory in each district of the country.

Mr. Seneadza noted that feasibility studies are being carried out towards the establishment of the cassava processing factory in the Afadjato South District.

“We are excited our area has been earmarked to benefit from the food processing factory and the Assembly is collaborating with adjoining districts to secure enough arable lands for cassava farming,” Mr. Seneadza said during a town hall meeting in the district.

The district assembly also plans to collaborate with other districts to provide raw materials for this factory.

“As you know farmers in this area are mostly into cassava farming but the mountainous nature of our land may not provide adequate farmland to feed the proposed factory with the needed raw material. That’s why we are collaborating with other districts,” the DCE explained.

In view of this, Mr. Seneadza advised his constituents to buy into the New Patriotic Party government’s policies as he assured that the government is committed to improving the lives of Ghanaians regardless of their political orientation.

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By: King Nobert Akpablie/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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He said although the regions were noted for their production of livestock, governments have over the years paid lip service to helping small holder livestock farmers to increase production to meet the high demand for meat in the country.

Mr. Yakubu disclosed this during a one-day capacity building workshop for Municipal and District Livestock Officers and community livestock workers on improved ruminant livestock production as a viable Business Enterprise in a changing Climate held in Bolgatanga.

“We think revamping the Zuarungu Meat Factory will create employment opportunities for young people in the Upper East Region and other regions, considering the various livestock value chain such as production, processing, and marketing.”

Also, instead of transporting the animals from Upper East, Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger to Accra and Kumasi, they could be slaughtered in the Zuarungu meat factory, stored and airlifted or transported to Accra thus saving cost and boosting the economy of the region,” he said.

Mr. Yakubu urged the government to invest in livestock production by establishing a venture capital with low-interest rate to support livestock farmers.

The workshop trained livestock officers on how to improve ruminant production, increase productivity, and increasing income.

They were also taken through exploiting investment opportunities within the livestock value chain for jobs, food and income security.

Mr. Yakubu said though the three regions of the North had an ideal condition for livestock production the sector was bedeviled with challenges and called on the government to adopt an integrated livestock-crop production system.

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Frederick Awuni/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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