{"id":409149,"date":"2018-03-12T15:26:45","date_gmt":"2018-03-12T15:26:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=409149"},"modified":"2018-03-12T15:26:45","modified_gmt":"2018-03-12T15:26:45","slug":"nana-addo-more-visionary-than-recent-ghanaian-leaders-us-ambassador","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2018\/03\/nana-addo-more-visionary-than-recent-ghanaian-leaders-us-ambassador\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Nana Addo more visionary than recent Ghanaian leaders’ – US Ambassador"},"content":{"rendered":"
US Ambassador to Ghana, Robert Jackson, believes the execution of President\u2019s Nana Akufo-Addo vision is more likely to propel Ghana\u2019s growth at a faster rate as compared to the\u00a0plans of past presidents.<\/p>\n
In the Ambassador’s view, President Akufo-Addo is “more visionary than some recent Ghanaian leaders.”<\/p>\n
[contextly_sidebar id=”yua8RAVKO876k5VNshJALLDMHzlzlTQO”]Commenting on the Akufo-Addo administration’s ‘Ghana Without Aid’ agenda on\u00a0online news portal, Ghanaweb’s 21 Minutes show,\u00a0Mr. Jackson was optimistic that “Ghana will get beyond aid and I think it will happen sooner rather than later.”<\/p>\n
In the interview, he noted that despite being a long-term plan, the one-district-one-factory policy is key to this vision.<\/p>\n
“President Akufo-Addo\u2019s vision of one-district-one-factory may not be realized within his first term or even his first term, if he get\u2019s 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.”<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
For Mr. Jackson, the current administration’s willingness to\u00a0rely on private sector for development is more critical to an economic turnaround.<\/p>\n
“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 \u2013 schools, clinics, hospitals, roads; President Mahama did a lot for this country,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n