The Executive Chairman of the Jospong Group of Companies (JGC) has advocated homegrown solutions to address the economic challenges currently bedevilling the country.
“The economic challenges that we are facing should rather bring forth our entrepreneurial spirit as we find homegrown solutions to them,” Dr. Joseph Siaw Agyepong made the call at the 2022 Annual Thanksgiving Service of the JGC and Zoomlion on Friday, December 9, 2022, at the group’s head office at Ashalley Botwe in Accra.
According to him, it is now time for Ghanaians to increase domestic production and ensure that “we consume what we produce in order to reduce the incessant pressure on the Ghana cedi.”
To this end, he stressed the need for the nation to prioritise localisation, stating optimistically that “we shall come out of this situation victorious through the grace of the Almighty God.”
2022, he bemoaned, has been characterised by harsh economic challenges, adding that these have had negative impacts on businesses and individuals.
“In these circumstances, there is the inclination to gloss over the goodness of the Lord and not appreciate Him for divine preservation. Let’s remember that through it all, the Lord has been good and faithful to us,” he reminded Ghanaians.
Dr. Agyepong was upbeat that Ghana would eventually come out of its economic doldrums.
He commended the government for its policy initiatives to boost local productive capacity and the protection of local industries by cutting down on imports.
“Indeed, the government’s decision to restrict the importation of commodities such as vegetable oil, rice, poultry, fruit juices, and ceramic tiles, is a step in the right direction towards self-sustenance,” he said.
However, the executive chairman of JGC called for an extension of the restriction to cover anything that is being produced by locals and for which “we have a comparative advantage.”
“In this regard, we need to boost the domestic avenues for their production, and these avenues would create ample job opportunities for our youth.
“As we applaud the government over its domestication efforts, we are humbly asking the government to be committed and very firm on this policy. We don’t want a situation where people will invest heavily in local industries only to be derailed by a lack of commitment on the part of the government,” Dr. Agyepong pleaded.
In the wake of the current economic circumstances, Dr. Agyepong applauded the hard work, patience, support and resilience of Ghanaians.
“By our nature and cultural orientation, Ghanaians are typically industrious, peace-loving, united and supportive. We are well-known, and ever will be, for these virtues. Ghanaians have been known to love their country, and able to work hard to manage their own affairs when given the opportunity. Regardless of how unsatisfactory conditions are, our people have been loyal to our beloved country,” he expressed.
“As we strengthen our feet in the paths of domestication, we are entreated to work harder than ever before, to do quality work and produce quality commodities.”
Furthermore, Dr. Agyepong stressed the need for Ghanaians to have a healthy attitude towards Ghana-made products and patronise them.
This, he explained, will help the Ghanaian economy to bounce back.
“We must all cherish, support, and sustain the modest gains that we have made over this period. May I use this opportunity to also encourage other businesses to support the efforts and initiatives of the government. I will continue to admonish the youth to also put their hands on deck, launch out and take advantage of opportunities being provided by government through its various youth-related initiatives like YouStart, planting for food and jobs to contribute their quota to national development,” he stated.
"...I wish to take the opportunity to stand on my behalf and that of my wife Adelaide and the entire Agyepong and allied families to thank you all sincerely for the outpouring of love and support during the demise and final funeral rites of my late father, Opanyin Samuel Kwame Agyepong", he appreciated.
He further said, "Words fail me as I recall the great support and services you rendered to make the final journey of my father memorable and spectacular. To avoid a situation where I mention one and leave out others, let me just say thank you to you all. However, I cannot have this platform without thanking the President of the Republic, H.E. Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and his Vice Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia and their wives, Former Presidents John Agyekum Kufour and John Dramani Mahama for their presence at the funeral. It was one of the most humbling moments of my life and I will never forget it".
Source: Peacefmonline.com/Ghana
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This is what we are looking for, the sector minister, Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto have paved the way for agriculture to start new technology.
Ghana’s agricultural sector has taking a new and nice face under Dr. Akoto
These things are no news, we have heard several of such over and over again. It simply means Ghana is not making progress, as to why, only God knows. If you completed secondary school in the 1980's, go and take your economics and Agriculture notes your teachers gave with which you wrote exams and passed, all the issues raised about the causes of the challenges in Ghana's agriculture and economy are still same today. Who doesn't know we need to mechanize agriculture to increase crop yields, who doesn't know the hoe and cutlass can't support enough agricultural yields, are Ghanaian farmers still not using the hoe and cutlass today. Who doesn't know that if a county's currency is to remain strong you have to cut down on imports by growing what you eat and eating what you crow, who doesn't know this. After all these plenty agriculture and economics note given to us by our teachers back in school, Ghana still imports tooth pick, handkerchiefs, slippers, pants, socks, toilet roll, towels, cooking utensils, plastic cups, pens, pencils, even newspapers from foreign countries, we import to manufacture some products. Come to food; even tomatoes we import from Burkina Faso ( between Ghana and Burkina Faso which of the two records good rains in a year, onions we import from Niger, as for rice let's not go there. The interesting thing is that we have more educated people in Ghana today than the era of Kwame Nkrumah who's tenure saw factories such as Bonsa tyre factory, Aboso glass factory, Pwalugu Tomato factory, Bolgatanga meat factory, Kumasi shoe factory, Nsawam cannery, Kade match factory, State owned enterprises such as Tema oil refinery, Ghana fishing corporation, meat marketing board, Bast fibres development board, Ghana cotton development board, cocoa marketing board, tema shipyard and dry dock, State construction corporation, Ghana food distribution corporation, Ghana airways, Ghana shipping line, etc etc. People who are said to be more educated today than before have collapsed all these, all. If successive governments had maintained and improved on all these there wouldn't have been the need for this so called one district one factory which is not seeing top as one can't see the head and tail of it. Even a soldier man like Colonel Acheampong could see far. He built lowcsost houses for workers in all then 9 regional capitals and some districts nationwide, Teshie Nungua estates, Tamale, Bolga and Wa catering rest houses are all Achempong projects. He built the largest irrigation facility in Ghana i.e. Tono irrigation dam in Navrongo, upper east. The Fumbisi and Nasia rice valleys, Kpong hydro power,Dawhenya irrigation topping it up with operation feed yourself, the single most successful agricultural initiative ever undertaken by any government. So who collapsed all these. Book, book,book is killing Ghana, home sense? Zero.