The Okyenhene, Osagyefo Amoatia Ofori Panin, says Ghana cannot achieve a middle-income status as a country when 80 per cent of businesses are managed by foreigners.
“We will not get anywhere as a country unless the ordinary Ghanaian gets rich, and this involves good policies, building bridges, good roads, hospitals, world class overpasses by our very own indigenous contractors.” the Okyenhene stated.
According to him, the comfort of the Ghanaians must be paramount to those in authority, who have the means to prosecute good policies.
“Sadly, key policymakers, including ministers usually absent themselves from functions such as this, when invited to partake and listen to the concerns of industry players for policy formulation.”
The Okyenhene made the call at the just ended two-day Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Ghana Chamber of Construction Industry held in Koforidua, the Eastern regional capital.
According to the Okyenhene “other countries do not have better human capital than Ghana. Our human resources have competitively been achieving in various fields across the globe and therefore the opportunity must be created for us to think of our destiny now than ever.”
Osagyefo Ofori Panin noted that 65years after independence, “we should have world class infrastructure development project being carried out by our very own indigenous contractors, architects, artisans, planners, and engineers, but largely in reverse over the years been characterised by foreign contractors and engineers.”
He said developed countries were empowering and advancing economic and social opportunities to their business communities to growth in productivity.
The Okyenhene said “almost all those who were given money/funds from the Exim-Bank for the 1D1F projects have defaulted. We can do far better than this as a country with over 31million people.”
He, therefore, commended Ghanaian contractors and other professionals for their endurance, and asked the gatekeepers of the economy to create and support business giants, by providing credit and funds.
Osagyefo Ofori Panin said “As a country, we need to change the status quo and narrative by the avoidance of the exceptional impact of high inflationary trends and high-interest rates in the Construction Industry. Delayed payment to contractors affects projects and leads to delay in prosperity and increases poverty.”
The Okyenhene urged government “to properly forecast its revenue and to programme projects and contract in a manner to ensure that only projects with adequate funding arrangements are tendered for awards for a contract as stipulated by the Public Financial Management Act, Act 921 and its regulations.”
He also called on the government to decentralise the country by consciously building economic cities by taking COCOBOD, Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Forestry Department to other regions in order to relieve Accra of its overweight and overstretch, as well as to help save travel times and creating jobs in other areas of the country.
FROM TIMES REPORTER, KOFORIDUA
