Economic transformation in the wake of rapid deindustrialization in Ghana

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• Alexander Illi 11 years ago

  It is very astonishing to find such concise and convincing evidence of deindustrialisation put forward in this excellent article.
  
  Can it be that the peak at the very beginning of the statistics represented the remnants of ...
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  It is very astonishing to find such concise and convincing evidence of deindustrialisation put forward in this excellent article.
  
  Can it be that the peak at the very beginning of the statistics represented the remnants of the Dr. Kwame Nkrumah-led efforts at the industrialisation of Ghana?
  
  In that case, that might have been the reason why Dr. Nkrumah's administration had to get disposed of, because he would have led the foundations to true independence via industrialisation.
  
  Waht the established industrialised countries need is producers of cheap feedstocks, not newly independent competitors. That's also why "developing countries" is a cynical euphemism, as there is no earnest intention to develop these resource-suppliers technologically, as then the would use their resources themselves to process them industrially and consume and sell the value-enhanced final products.
  
  Therefore it is no wonder that large foreign "investments" and "aid" go mainly to the sectors that allow them to extract feedstocks (resources) from Ghana, i.e. e.g. mining, oil, gas, timber, fishing and roads connecting the resource-rich districts to the harbours.
  
  Since international Terms-of-Trade agreements are usually slanted (the big industrialised country turn up with more lawyers and lobbyists than the whole of Africa can muster, so to say, and they alos have means of exerting more or less subtle pressure) and one-sided, it may get very hard to industrialise in the face of protectionism (e.g. open or hidden protective subsidies in the industrialised countries and protective prohibitive tariffs at their borders: withholding of technological knowledge etc.).
  
  However, there should be incetives for Ghanaian domestic investors and the administration to promote industrialisation: foremost, the bureaucracy should be simple, transparent, comprehensive and meaningful.
  
  For Example, the potential hassle at the harbour and post-offices and airport to import spare parts and the like is just too disencouraging, with "officials" even inventing "fees" at their whim.
  
  Hurdles to open a business have to be lowered. It is totally impracticable to have to visit dozens of offices at various dates in far away Accra just to register a new company.
  
  But perhaps most of all, Ghana has to acknowledge and consider, as explained above, that outside forces try to prevent industrialisation, and it may not be easy to overcome these obstructions in a rush.
  
  Ghana, in my opinion, should start with its own talents, e.g. really bring forward small scale agriculture, build a fertilizer plant, as Abu Sakara has suggested, build Centers for down-to-earth, hands-on agric demonstration of breadfruit cultivation ("Africa's Breadfruit Revolution") and other revolutionary, independence-enhancing farming methods (e.g. Evergreen Agriculture, Farm Pond Technology and many more), build Breadfruit-flour factories. Agriculture in its new sustainable improved forms, that are unfortunately largely still unknown to politicians, provides employment and food security and the basis for industrialisation.
  
  Sorry, Dum-Sor, battery assa, no time for further elaboration and proof-reading ;) Bye-bye

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• insight to the bone 11 years ago

  As the days go by more and more people wake up to the reality of the ndc anti Akan hate agenda and their deep rooted corrupt dark souls of evil .This was first initiated by the Ewes and through Mahama and his brothers being c ...
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  As the days go by more and more people wake up to the reality of the ndc anti Akan hate agenda and their deep rooted corrupt dark souls of evil .This was first initiated by the Ewes and through Mahama and his brothers being championed today by the northerners. We see in Iraq/Syria the announce of the Islamic caliphate state and their map which now includes Ghana and the whole of West Africa .Most people are ignorant of the fact that unlike in Christianity and other religions whereby the leaders or priests are men of peace in Islam their imams or priests advocate for war and destruction of the non believers and when war starts every single one of them assumes the title emir and becomes the captain of a murderous horde as we saw in Libya and with the boko haram. The mosque is not only a place of worship but an army fortress or barracks and that is why they must in the design in every area which is not predominately Muslim its required to have a tall reconnaissance tower. we see in Accra and other places these mosques spring up all over the place at militarily very strategic positions but we are vigilant and when our bloody revolution starts we will raze all these structures to the ground and drive out this menace from our midst . There are some brainwashed idiotic fools who still believe mahama has good intentions but don't know he is a Muslim disguised as a christian which Islam allows and his only agenda is to weaken with corruption and destroy with negligence the Akan economy so the caliphate can be achieved that is why no project of strategic importance can see the light of day under his watch.As for the Ewes his partners in crime all i can say is have you ever wondered why when you go to Togo there the Ewes are very nice people and true African brothers but the moment you cross the Aflao border into Ghana the ayigbe wickedness , hate and evil starts? The ewes in Togo know these ayigbe are so bad and useless that they are not interested in reuniting with them but would rather throw them all into the sea. We should find a way to trick them into taking them back as we Akans will definitely be better off without this foolish idiotic people. Mahama and his brothers have stolen so much that even the bank of Ghana admits they dont know where our foreign reserves have disappeared to , i can tell you where , Turkey , Iran, Dubai and other Muslim countries where its safe for them. Congrats to Kumasi for hitting the nail on the head and exposing the discrimination and abuse of the civil/human rights with the WHAT HAVE WE DONE TO YOU demonstration , today we see idiots and saboteurs trying turn it into a question of mere economics , even one idiot woman came out with a humiliating brainless idea to go naked just to deflect from the main core issue of discrimination against the Akans. My people we have only one problem and if that's solved the rest will be easy , the problem is discrimination and the Anti Akan agenda of part of this mafia ndc . its never about npp , ndc ,left or right wing ideology politics but simply pepeni/ayigbe tribalism against Akan nationalist evolution. They are only attracted to ideas that only destroy our economy like this EPA paramount foolishness with the Europeans or giving away our gold fields to foreigners who never invest here in the name of prudent business , end result our people are exploited and made poorer. we shall never surrender or be fooled again. While we were thinking of a better Ghana for ALL citizens they were thinking of only themselves and destroying the future for our children . We need to have our revolution and secede to form our own state as they will never change.

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• Alex. Illi 11 years ago

  You paste the same indiscriminately under various unrelated articles.

  You paste the same indiscriminately under various unrelated articles.

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• insight to the bone 11 years ago

  panic ? go and tell your jj when he was blurting out his hate under the guise of anti corruption revolution you all kept quiet , our day is coming soon

  panic ? go and tell your jj when he was blurting out his hate under the guise of anti corruption revolution you all kept quiet , our day is coming soon

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• Alexander Illi 11 years ago

  I have no affiliation and no vested interest with "JJ". Nor NDC, nor NPP, nor am I a partisan proponent of one of the groups you mentioned.
  
  I am interested in LOVE & RESPECT for all, regardless of superficial categorisatio ...
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  I have no affiliation and no vested interest with "JJ". Nor NDC, nor NPP, nor am I a partisan proponent of one of the groups you mentioned.
  
  I am interested in LOVE & RESPECT for all, regardless of superficial categorisations (pigeon-holing).

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• XYZ 11 years ago

  NDC caused the MOST rapid de-industrialization in Ghana's history. They've been in power this last period for 6 years. Show me where the industries are that you claim they planned for?

  NDC caused the MOST rapid de-industrialization in Ghana's history. They've been in power this last period for 6 years. Show me where the industries are that you claim they planned for?

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• ja 11 years ago

  I share in your views Dr. Kubi. Kwame Nkrumah's accelerated industrialization under ISI policy went all wrong. Ghana had never really recovered from the misinterpretation and application of the ISI theory. No government since ...
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  I share in your views Dr. Kubi. Kwame Nkrumah's accelerated industrialization under ISI policy went all wrong. Ghana had never really recovered from the misinterpretation and application of the ISI theory. No government since Nkrumah has made any serious effort to change the strategic direction of Ghana's industrialisation effort. We are obviously now at a dead end. We need to clean the slate and make a fresh start.

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• Alex. Illi 11 years ago

  Does Dr. Kubi offer this point of view anywhere in the above article?
  
  What I can see are statements like this:
  "Globalization, economic liberalisation and stabilization, and trade openness have been identified to cause th ...
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  Does Dr. Kubi offer this point of view anywhere in the above article?
  
  What I can see are statements like this:
  "Globalization, economic liberalisation and stabilization, and trade openness have been identified to cause the rising deindustrialization trend in Ghana."
  
  Nowhere do I find mention of ISI policy.

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