President-elect, Nana Akufo-Addo
By Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., Ph.D.
Contrary to what former Trade and Industry Minister Dr. Kofi Konadu Apraku would have us believe, Akufo-Addo’s proposed “One District, One Factory” development policy agenda is not that difficult to implement at all (See “ ‘One District, One Factory’ Promise Will Be Challenging to Implement – Dr. Apraku” Kasapafmonline.com / Ghanaweb.com 12/20/16).
What would be challenging is getting the right people with the expertise and selflessness to implement this program. This is where President-Elect Akufo-Addo would have to be extra-careful. Fortunately, he served in the Kufuor government long enough to have gotten to know about which government operatives were in the Kufuor cabinet and other highly sensitive administrative positions for themselves as well as for the general good of Ghanaian society at large.
What the foregoing means is that Nana Akufo-Addo needs to focus his selection of point men and women on the level of the creative initiative and dedication with which those selected are willing to move the country forward. At all costs, the former Attorney-General and Minister of Justice needs to avoid seeing the key cabinet positions as “jobs for the boys and the girls.”
He needs to reach out and bring in all the best talents that he can get without too much regard for party affiliation. Ideological orientation, however, must be foregrounded. What this means is that political opportunists, however talented they may be, must be avoided at all costs. On the latter score, of course, I am referring to cabinet appointees who may primarily deem the opportunity to serve the people as a fetching electioneering campaign diving board come Election 2020.
Before he decides to implement his “One District, One Factory” agenda, President-Elect Akufo-Addo will need to conduct several town-and-village-square meetings with the local rulers and people of each and every district in the country in order to figure out the sort of resources readily available in these districts – both human and material and/or natural resources – that need to be harnessed and developed in order to significantly improve the living standards of the inhabitants of these communities.
The foreign investment component of this agenda ought to be deemed as secondary, for unless the primary beneficiaries of these districts have been afforded the requisite training and preparation to be able to successfully execute the intended projects in each of these districts, no amount of foreign capital would make a heck of a significant difference in the lives of the people.
More than ample examples exist under both National Democratic Congress and New Patriotic Party governments for anybody to be fooled about the real impact of foreign investments in the development of the country. Ultimately, the old maxim of charity beginning at home is the best way to go at it.
We must also underscore the fact that the development policy agenda being presently promoted by President-Elect Akufo-Addo was first mooted by Mr. William “Paa Willie” Ofori-Atta, Nana Akufo-Addo’s own maternal uncle and one of the legendary Big Six founding fathers of Modern Ghana. One only needs to peruse the Working Papers of the Danquah-founded Gold Coast Youth Conference to fully appreciate the genius of the man who is credited with having coined the name of Ghana’s first modern political organization, the United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC).