Govt unable to secure funds for about 150 constituencies under 1D1F – Akoto Osei

The Minister for Monitoring and Evaluation, Dr. Anthony Akoto Osei, says finding sponsorship for about 150 1D1F constituencies has been a challenge for the government.

According to him, despite the flagship programme having a great potential for economic transformation, it has been met with the difficulty in securing finances to kick start some projects.

“Two months ago, there were about 150 constituencies for which we have not found sponsors. Now how can the government promise that if we have 150 they can force 150 people to build factories? It is not possible.”

On the back of this information, Dr. Anthony Akoto Osei is casting doubt on the current administration’s ability to deliver all 1D1F projects in four years.

He explains that an in-depth assessment by his ministry reveals it is highly unlikely to fully implement the much-touted initiative in four years.

“From what the Minister [Trades and Industry Ministry] said, I don’t believe that all 275 factories will be ready. Keep in mind that it is not the government that is producing the factories. It is the private sector and you cannot force them to produce the factories. You can only facilitate, he spoke on JoyNews.

The Minister further added that; “one District One Factory is an objective. It doesn’t mean we will complete it in four years. We said we were going to produce 1D1F but we didn’t time ourselves to four years.”

A cross section of Ghanaians have expressed surprised at this revelation as the country is readying for elections in eleven months.

Ahead of the 2016 general elections, the Akufo-Addo-led government promised to build one factory in every district across the country.

This flagship project under the name one district one factory was promoted as a major intervention to drive the country’s industrialization agenda.