President Mahama Must Sustain Campaign Against Foreign Goods

President John Dramani Mahama on Monday denounced some security agencies for procuring security boots from other countries, while abandoning those produced by the Kumasi Shoe Factory.

“Although the Kumasi Shoe Factory is producing high quality boots for the security services, most of them are still importing from other countries, thereby disobeying my instructions,” the GNA quoted the president as saying, when he met members of the Council of State at the presidency recently.

According to the story, President Mahama said the Kumasi Shoe Factory and the Komenda Sugar Factory were projects he was reviving to reduce the importation of their products and it was, therefore, discouraging for people to continue to import similar goods that were produced cheaply domestically.

The Chronicle is happy that the president himself has joined the campaign for the patronage of made in Ghana goods. Our inelastic demand for foreign goods is having a serious effect on our national economy, but no serious decisions have been taken to curb the emerging trend. The worst offenders are departments and agencies under the government, which always prefer foreign goods, especially cheap import from China to 'Made in Ghana' goods.

Parliament of all institutions, two years ago imported chairs from China to furnish its chamber, when the same products could have been procured in Ghana. The protests that greeted that decision should have pricked the minds of those behind the importation that Ghanaians were not happy. But alas, not only did they see the cry of Ghanaians as cacophonous noise, but went ahead to import another furniture from China to furnish the Job 600.

The Chronicle admits that we are operating free market economy but does it mean that we should open our market to cheap foreign goods at the expense of our local industries? Certainly not, but unfortunately, that is what Ghanaians are witnessing. The cedi has always been unstable against the dollar because of the scramble for the US bucks to import goods, a development which is having cascading effect on the health of the economy and the general well-being of Ghanaians but the government is looking on as if nothing is happening.

No country on this planet can build a strong and healthy economy and sustain it for a considerable period of time, if the government itself and the citizens as a whole indulge in excessive imports instead of exports, as we are witnessing in Ghana. State agencies charged to oversee the sector have also failed to educate Ghanaians on the pros and cons for patronizing foreign goods.

The Kumasi Shoe Factory, Abosso Glass Factory, the Jute Factory in Kumasi and a host of others, were in the past employing substantial number of Ghanaians, but the situation is not the same today. Apart from the Shoe Factory, which has been revived, the rest have all collapsed. Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) is today importing sacks from the south Eastern Asian countries when we have a factory that could have produced the same products locally.

The breweries are also importing bottles when we have a factory sitting idle at Abosso in the Western Region.   If all these companies were operating at full throttle, the dollars we use to import the same products they are producing would have been saved. Ghanaians, especially the youth, would have also be employed to earn a salary that would take care of their families.

As we noted earlier, the action of the president is commendable but he must ensure that his orders are always obeyed by institutions under him. Since he is the Commander-in-Chief of the Ghana Armed Forces, commanders of the various forces have singular duty of obeying his instructions. It is unacceptable that whilst the country has a factory producing shoes including those worn by the security agencies, the latter would still ignore the local product for foreign ones.

The Chronicle is encouraging President Mahama to crack the whip if the trend continues to serve as deterrent to other state agencies, that they cannot import foreign products that can easily be procured in the country to ensure the stability of the cedi and guaranteed employment for the youth. We rest our case.