Aspiring Flagbearer of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), Kennedy Ohene Agyapong, has shared insights on the challenges facing the government’s flagship programme, One District, One Factory (1D1F).
In an exclusive interview with Happy 98.9 FM’s Sefah Danquah, the MP for Assin Central addressing some critical issues plaguing Ghana’s economy and the high rate of unemployment attributed the situation to the pervasive dishonesty among Ghanaian businesses.
He emphatically stated, “The level of dishonesty among Ghanaian businesses is one key contributor to the high rate of unemployment in the country. I’ll praise and thank President Akufo-Addo for his vision for 1D1F. Ghanaians can’t blame Akufo-Addo for 1D1F failure, we need to blame dishonest businesses.
He pointed out that when one examines the loans extended by institutions like Exim Bank to individuals to establish businesses under the 1D1F project, the level of dishonesty becomes evident. Many beneficiaries of these loans, he claimed, had failed to use them for the intended purpose of setting up factories or companies.
He also singled out the Ghana Commercial Bank, which had also provided loans to promote the initiative, yet little progress had been made in terms of establishing the expected factories.
“When you go to the Exim bank and you realize the loans they’ve given out to people to put up businesses under the project you’ll be amazed. Now we can go check and confirm whether the businesses have been put up by those who were granted the loan. The Ghana Commercial Bank also gave loans out to people yet nothing has been done”.
He further questioned whether it would be fair to solely blame President Akufo-Addo for the project’s challenges when dishonesty among business owners appeared to be a significant obstacle.
Mr. Agyapong stressed the importance of transitioning from purely government-funded initiatives to public-private partnerships (PPP) as a means of stimulating economic growth. However, he expressed his disappointment with the unscrupulous behaviour of some businesses participating in these partnerships. This, he argued, highlighted the urgent need for a change in mindset within the business community.
