Accra, Jan 15, – Sir Sam Jonah,
the Executive Chairman, Jonah Capital, has called for a deliberate policy to
change the attitude of Ghanaians towards local products.
He said the inordinate taste for
foreign goods in Ghana and many African countries was not conducive to
developing indigenous capital.
“There is little faith in things
made in Ghana. We have an inordinate taste for foreign goods whether food
items, clothing, electronic, footwear, not to forget toothpick and toilet
paper. This mindset issue manifests itself even at official levels,” Sir Jonah
said on Monday in Accra, in a keynote address at the 69th Annual New Year
School and Conference (ANYSC).
He cited the rehabilitated GIHOC
Shoe Factory in Kumasi, which had cause to publicly complain about the
continuous importation of boots for the security services to the neglect of
their brand of boots.
“It is also not very necessary to
reinvent the wheel in terms of policies aimed at building indigenous or
national capital, especially where there are best modules that address our
situation in Ghana,” he said.
He cited South Korea, which
during the 1960s, the Government through the educational system succeeded in
making people believe that consuming foreign goods at the expense of their
local manufactured ones was unpatriotic; stating that merely smoking a
foreign-made cigarette could get someone reported to the authorities.
Sir Jonah said: “We must
consciously strive to create business champions, just as Nigeria has done with
Dangote, UBA, Zenith Bank, First Bank, Glo, GT Bank, just to name a few”.
He urged Ghana to begin with
value addition to its cocoa, precious metals and the massive opportunities in
ICT to develop software entrepreneurs; declaring that the Government must move
away from the age-old provider of all things to a facilitator of all things.
“We must strategically transform
ourselves, from agriculture to agribusiness and from mining to mining
beneficiation. We must move away from being mere planters of cocoa beans to
manufacturers of world-class chocolate products. We must allow our nationals to
participate in these sectors as investors and shareholders,” he said.
“Shining examples like Kasapreko
Company Limited must not be left to their own strengths to prod along. They
must become national reference points to the world by both private and national
promotional efforts.”
He recounted that in a recently
held conference in Abuja, when the name Dangote was mentioned, it was made very
clear by Nigerian Officials present that; “Dangote is a national institution……”
Sir Jonah, who is also the
Chancellor of the University of Cape Coast, said: “This is the spirit and
attitude we should have when it comes to providing support to Ghanaian
businesses.”
“Our officials from relevant
sector ministries and institutions should emulate such laudable examples of
supporting their own.”
He said: “To create jobs, we need
investment and to attract private investors, we need to ensure that the
environment is and remains competitively attractive”.
“I therefore, believe that, given
the opportunity with strong government support in creating the requisite
environment for national capitalism, the Ghana entrepreneur can deliver growth
with jobs that will lead to sustainable development for our motherland.
“It is my conviction that for
some time now, this is the best opportunity to take these ideas to action. We
must avoid what the Malaysians call TONA (Talk Only No Action).”
Professor Ebenezer Oduro Owusu,
the Vice-Chancelor, University of Ghana, said job creation remained central to
the country’s sustainable development and at the same time a growing concern to
our shared prosperity.
He said despite considerable
efforts by successive governments to create jobs in the last two decades,
unemployment, particularly among graduates from the nation’s universities and
other tertiary institutions remains very high.
Prof Michael Ayitey Tagoe, the
Acting Provost, College of Education and Dean, SCDE, University of Ghana, said
the emphasis on job creation and national development stems from the fact that
in the last one year, the Government’s effort had focused on job creation and
how to address unemployment in the country.
The ANYSC, which is being
organised by the School of Continuing and Distance Education (SCDE), University
of Ghana, is on the theme “Job Creation for Accelerated National Development:
The Role of the Private Sector.”
The week-long event, which was
officially opened by Vice President Alhaji Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, is under the
auspices of Kosmos Energy, Vodafone Ghana, Goil, Voltic, Daily Graphic,
Prudential Bank and the Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research
(ISSER), University of Ghana.
GNA
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