Don’t play politics with ‘One District, One Factory’ programme

Come tomorrow, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo will cut the sod for the construction of a pineapple processing factory at Esiame, in the Ekumfi District of the Central Region.

According to the New Patriotic Party's (NPP) National Youth Organiser, Sammy Awuku, the sod cutting event will mark the commencement of one of the governing party's (NPP) flagship programmes – 'One District, One factory'.

Mr. Awuku noted: “It is a pineapple juice factory. We also have one of the factories ready at Twifo Ati-Morkwa District, which the President, in due course, will cut sod for its commencement. It is a toothpick producing factory. We also have one fruit juice-based factory in the Assin District. So we are moving, not even with the speed of light, but I think the government has demonstrated that it is ready to move beyond the comfort zone,” he added.

The Chronicle wants to congratulate the President and his NPP administration for taking the bull by the horns to lay bare to Ghanaians and the rest of the world that he intends to keep his promises to the good people of this country.

It would be recalled that the NPP, in its 2016 Manifesto, promised to embark on an ambitious industrialisation drive, by building one factory in each of the 216 districts across the country, to create jobs for the teeming unemployed youth.

The 'One District, One Factory', according to the then opposition party, would be built based on the natural endowed resources of the district, particularly, with regards to what the people can or produce within the area.

To all intends and purposes, The Chronicle was shocked to the marrow, that, even before the project could come underway, some prominent members of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) have already started doing politics with it.

Mohammed Murtala, a former Deputy Trade Minister in the erstwhile NDC administration, according to citifmonline, last Tuesday, called on the government to give credit to the opposition party for the establishment of a pineapple factory in the Ekumfi District.

According to the former Deputy Trade Minister, the processes for the establishment of the factory started in 2013, while the NDC was in office.

“In 2013, it was done between CEDECOM. This was something that was established. You can liken it to SADA, which is meant to provide jobs and alleviate poverty in the Central Region. The land was secured by CEDECOM through the chiefs, so there is nothing the NPP has provided in this, so why should they claim credit for something they have not done,” Mr. Murtala noted.

A member of the NPP's 'One District, One Factory' launch committee, Kingsley Kakari Bondzie, has, however, rubbished Murtala's assertions that his party laid the foundation for the first factory to be established in the Central Region.

“There is no iota of truth in whatever the man said. This is a very fresh business. Currently, as I speak to you about the proposed factory site, the investor acquired the land himself, and the title is in the name of the investor, so I am very shocked that the NDC can lay claim to this…,” Mr Bondzie explained.

The Chronicle thinks that the attitude of the former deputy Minister is aimed at scoring cheap political points, because, even the ordinary man on the street knows that sod cutting refers to breaking the ground to pave the way for a construction project.

Instead of supporting the government to go all out to establish the pineapple factory to create jobs for the army of unemployed youth in the area, the former deputy Minister and his likes are playing politics with it.

Information available to The Chronicle indicates that in May, 2013, the NDC launched what it called the GHȼ1.2 million organic sugar-loaf pineapple growing project at Essarkyir in the Ekumfi District.

The project, which was to be jointly sponsored by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the Central Regional Development Commission (CEDECOM), was aimed at expanding and improving sugar-loaf pineapple cultivation, as a means of reducing poverty in the area.

We are appealing to our politicians not to politicise everything in this country, as such an attitude has the tendency to deepen the already fragile political environment staring us in the face.

Our politicians must note that they are not the only wise people in Ghana who can discern or interpret whatever the government in power is doing, and that the people, who are the majority in silence, have the power and knowledge to understand what is going on.

Let the people decide, and stop throwing dust in the eyes of Gha