It must also ensure the radical dismantling of bureaucratic restrictions and impediment of operating business effectively and profitably in Ghana.
Mrs. Letica Sarfo, vice president of the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI), made the call at the opening of Ghana Made Limited Shop. It is a shop where only Made-in-Ghana goods are sold.
Mrs. Sarfo said a better organized manufacturing sector stands to benefit from the changes that are going on in the economy, and the constraints that they face can be removed by the introduction of appropriate policies.
She further called on the government to do everything possible to let the processing of raw materials into finished goods hold for a sustained economic development of the country.
Mrs. Sarfo identified lack of political commitment to industrial development and the reluctance of financial institutions to risks with manufacturing projects as some of the challenges and problems that the local industries face.
“I know some banks that were established with the sole aim of developing industry, but they all have different stories to tell and are doing brisk commercial banking for obvious reasons, forgetting that over 80 percent of the jobs in the private sector are created by the labour force in the manufacturing sector,” she said.
Mrs. Sarfo commended Mrs. Comfort Aniagyei, Managing Director of Ghana Made Limited Shop, for demonstrating that made-in-Ghana goods are great quality and marketable, and urged Ghanaians to change their attitudes towards patronizing locally manufactured goods.
Mrs. Anagyei for her part called on Ghanaians to produce and consume a significant percentage of what is produced locally, saying that “by so doing, we would take a giant step towards economic independence.”
She said her shop, which is the first of its kind in Tema, has come to serve as a bridge between producers and consumers.
Source: The Ghanaian Times, Friday February 6, 2009
