Gifty Ohene-Konadu
National Coordinator of the One District, One Factory (1D1F) initiative, Gifty Ohene Konadu, has assured Ghanaians that every district will have its own factory by the end of 2020.
She disclosed that some districts would have more factories than others depending on the raw material potentials in the areas.
She indicated that the Nsawam Adoagyiri District would get three different factories, adding that funding has been made available.
The former deputy minister of Trade & Industry, therefore, urged Ghanaians to be hopeful and ignore the unfounded propaganda being put out there as a result of the vicious crave for political power.
President Akufo-Addo, she added, is fulfilling his promise made to the people of Ghana during the 2016 electioneering campaign with regard to the implementation of the policy initiative, stressing that the level of development so far is satisfactory.
“The promise that Nana Akufo-Addo made is a promise that he is fulfilling and he will continue until all the districts have at least a factory each. I am hopeful that by year 2020, most of the districts, if not all, will have a factory”, she noted.
Ms Ohene Konadu made this observation during an interview with Accra-based Oman FM on Thursday to give account on the status of implementation of the initiative.
No discrimination
Explaining further, the National Coordinator of the 1D1F project said the President is passionate about the programme to ensure that its implementation opens up all the 254 districts in the country for employment opportunities.
To that effect, she said her outfit has not discriminated against any investor with a good project proposal on grounds of race, political affiliation, colour, gender, among others.
“One-District-One-Factory is a vision of the President that has come to assist Ghana. Everything is working to perfection. When you submit a proposal, we don’t look at one’s political affiliation or background, race, colour among others. This is Ghana and everything that the President is doing is about the interest of Ghana,” she posited.
Implementation steadily progressing
She said the implementation of the programme, which is private-led, is steadily progressing and was optimistic more of the factories would soon be commissioned.
“When you start with anything, you slow down a bit because you have to take your time to study properly and once you are good to go, you then move at a faster pace. I can tell you on authority that most of the investors have received funding and are executing the projects to the satisfaction of the funding institutions. A lot of the banks have also expressed their readiness to support in this regard. So for now, everything is in order and we are moving at a faster pace,” Ohene Konadu stressed.
Help make 1D1F a success
Commenting further, Ms Ohene Konadu cautioned politicians who are always criticizing the implementation of the 1D1F policy to desist from the practice and rather offer suggestions that would help make the policy a success to inure to the benefit of all.
She stressed that the government would not lose focus on the initiative that the majority of the people have embraced.
Ms Ohene Konadu said under the policy the government is to provide an enabling environment which includes the provision of potable water, access road network, electricity and land for the investors to build the factory.
She said her doors are always open to receive suggestions that will make the implementation of the policy better.