The Daily Graphic commends government’s industrialization drive, which has given birth to the One-District, One Factory initiative. The paper believes that while government makes attempts at establishing new industries, efforts must also be made to resurrect defunct factories which have gone bankrupt and their infrastructure and equipment left at the mercy of the weather. According to the Graphic, most of those factories which made their localities lively with a host of ancillary factories such as the Pwalugu Tomato Factory, still have great prospects that can be restored and strategic investors found to resuscitate them. In the opinion of the paper, it does not make economic sense that the Ghana Rubber Estates Limited, one of the surviving factories, exports about ninety-five percent of the rubber it produces, while the Bonsa Tyre Company Limited, which could have added value to the raw rubber, still remains defunct. It is on this score that the Graphic urges government to be minded by factors that led to the demise of most factories as efforts are made to revamp them and set up new ones.
The Ghanaian Times welcomes the assurance by the Minister of Lands and natural Resource Samuel Abu Jinapor that government will deal drastically with individuals or groups that frustrate its efforts to fight galamsey. The paper says it is gravely concerned about the activities of illegal miners because galamsey is a major threat to the survival of the country’s water resources and the general environment. It agrees with President Akufo-Addo who made it clear that the law will punish all involved in illegal mining despite their positions in government adding it is time the Regional Security Councils to teamed up, arrest and prosecute those involved in the act. The paper believes that intensive education on illegal mining will help curb the menace and urges government to provide alternative jobs or livelihood activities to get illegal miners engaged in them to protect water bodies and the environment.
