PRIVATIZE ROADS AND RAILWAYS IN GHANA!
5/17/2012 3:58:02 PM -
If Ghana were to maintain its momentum concerning industrialization and to lead ahead as the gateway to the continent of Africa, then it should couple its seriousness of getting the country develop and to remove the citizens from poverty by privatizing the roads and railway industries in Ghana. This advice I give to Nana Addo Dankwah and his NPP Party to embark seriously on these as soon as he takes over from the incompetent government we have in Ghana. There are many investors outside the country who are graciously waiting to see this kind of implementation being initiated by the promising leadership of Nana Addo and his indomitable NPP Party. As I see it, this is the only way Ghana could break the deadlock of its inability to spearhead in the nation's economic development, and the successful completion of these infrastructures will usher in a new period of great growth, which will bring the world to recognize Ghana's ability to lead and become a progressive country in the sub-Sahara Africa.
It should not take any promising leader so many hours to realize that these infrastructures require extensive capital and investments in the country and, as have been reiterated on sundry occasions, government alone cannot take upon itself the bulk of work in these areas. This was one of the reasons why during the industrial revolution Britain and many of the emerging economies in Europe enlisted help and contribution from the private entrepreneurs to assist them. Even Sweden and many countries in the Eastern European corridors that later joined the industrialization train, gained a great deal from the private companies who invested heavily in these essential areas of their economies. Therefore, it would be stupid for any country in Africa to think that their government could do all these things alone by depending on borrowing as the NDC Party has been doing for the past three years or more in Ghana. Any nation that neglects the contribution of its private industrialists and companies (both at home and abroad) would end up incurring heavy debt that would cripple its future children in the country. If Ghana were to make or attract major developments into its corridor, then it should aggressively partnership with many of these private companies from Germany, Sweden, China, and the USA etc who could invest in their railway sectors and bring progress to Ghana and their own countries as well. Recently, the German companies that completed its projects of building super highways and railways and other infrastructures in Japan had enabled Japan to accomplish a lot in its infrastructural developments.
If Ghana were to employ the assistance of private companies and entrepreneurs from GERMANY or SWEDEN to embark on its railways and road's development, it should make sure that at least the contract agreements should not be interfered by any future government for the next 100 or more years. If such a guarantee is given to these countries and its companies, I am certainly sure that investors from these two leading countries will flock to Ghana to ensure that these sectors of its infrastructures be developed. What they would not like to see or entertain is the wrong interference of certain future governments that it would like to take over the management or the supervision of these companies as a whole. Now, there are many ignorant people who could use this opportunity to criticize the incoming government who I believe would adhere to this promising business venture that it wants to sell Ghanaians' freedom and sell out the country to foreign firms. But I must reiterate that this will be cheap politics. Politician should not be looking for cheap popularity just as Mr Bagbin of NDC party had wanted to use the occasion of the invitation of the Austrian companies into Ghana by NPP to acquire his cheap popularity, which unfortunately gained support from many ignorant people in the country.
Once Nana Akuffo-Addo has been elected, I think it would be a good idea to take this line, (which is my own idea and not NPP so that people could make an issue about that) which will change the face of Ghana's industrialization and development within the next few years. Also, Nana Akuffo-Addo should not concentrate all the future developments of Ghana in one place, that is, Accra, but instead he should look afar to new areas where both tourism and new industries could be set up. The region of Koforidua and its surrounding areas of Manya Krobo and Ho areas are new and rich promising areas where industries such as tomato factory, pineapple factory, and corn beef factories should built. Cattle rearing in the whole of Volta Region landscape could support at least four corn beef factories in the Volta region. If possible, Koforidua should become the new financial city in Ghana while Accra maintains its popularity as the capital city. The new Ghana should ensure that there is distribution of income. Moreover, those unknown potential rich areas, such as the Okwahu plateau and the Northern Region of Ghana, should not be in the periphery, but on the contrary, new areas to receive major developments leading to population migration into such vital areas of the country.



