Ellembelle Member of Parliament Emmanuel Armah Kofi Buah has challenged the government to give specifics in terms of the factories under the One District One Factory (1D1F) initiative that are operating.
He asked the government to mention the names and the locations of the said factories.
In his view, contrary to the claims by the government that the programme has succeeded, the 1D1F has been a monumental failure.
Contributing to the debate on the 2023 budget statement in Parliament on Wednesday November 30, the Former Minister of Energy said “Government’s flagship programme 1D1F has been a monumental failure…
“Today, in paragraph 598 of the 2023 budget we are told that the total of 296 one district one factory projects are at various stages of development and that, 126 factories are operational but we are not specifically told the name of the factory or the district where these factories are located. So, I ask the question, Members of Parliament does anybody have one in your constituencies?”
But the Member of Parliament for Tema West, Carlos Kingsley Ahenkorah countered his claim after indicating that a lot of the factories are operating.
This, he said, formed part of the efforts by the Akufo-Addo-led government to industrialize the Ghanaian economy yet, the main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) behaves as though nothing is being done to provide jobs for the people.
The former Deputy Minister of Trade revealed that children of some notable members of the NDC have been employed in some of these factories.
If provoked, he said, the government will be forced to mention the names of the NDC members who are benefiting from the 1D1F.
He said “Today, as I speak to you we have close to 300 factories under the Akufo-Addo government. Mr Speaker, out of this 296 or so factories, about 126 of them are operational, 143 are at various stages of construction and 43 pipeline projects.
“Let us assume Mr Speaker, if since 1992, all the presidents that have come to stay on for 8 years, now Akufo-Addo is the 5th President, if every president was bringing or churning out 300 factories in Ghana we will be having 1,500 companies as at today.
“Unfortunately, from 2009 to 2026 the Komenda Sugar factory is the only one that we heard off from the other side (NDC) and yet they have the effrontery to speak to us as if we have not done anything in this country.
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“But fortunately for them those who have 1D1F in their constituencies or municipality their own siblings, their own children are working in these factories. I want to point out to them that if they provoke us we will mention names.
“When some president had the opportunity in this fourth republic to ensure that they provide workforce for the youth they rather sold the factories or companies that we had in Ghana.”
By Laud Nartey|3news.com|Ghana