By: Franklin ASARE-DONKOH
The Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr. Kobina Tahir Hammond who doubles as the Member of Parliament (MP), for Adansi Asokwa Constituency, Ashanti Region has revealed that no private sector investor has shown interest in establishing a factory under the government’s flagship programme, One-District-One-Factory (1D1F), in the Sissala West constituency.
According to the Trade and Industry Minister, the 1D1F initiative which aims to facilitate the establishment of at least one factory in each of Ghana’s 261 districts is driven by private sector demand.
However, despite these efforts, Sissala West has not attracted any private sector interest in setting up a factory.
This came to the fore of the House on Tuesday, June 13, 2023, when Mr. Hammond was answering a question posed to him by the MP for Sissala West, Mohammed Adams Sukparu as to what plans the Trade Ministry has put in place to ensure that the people of Sissala West benefit from the 1D1F.
The Trade minister has, however, implored the Sissala West lawmaker to assist potential business promoters interested in investing in the district under the 1D1F program and assured of the government’s willingness to provide all necessary support to facilitate their ventures.
“The 1D1F programme is a demand-driven initiative facilitated by the government to assist the private sector to establish at least one manufacturing enterprise in each of the 261 Districts of the country. Unfortunately to date, no private sector promoter has expressed interest in establishing a 1D1F factory in the Sissala West Municipality. We would entreat the Hon Member (Sukparu) to identify and encourage a potential 1D1F Business Promoter to invest in the Municipality,” KT Hammond reiterated.
But Mr. Sukparu who was not inspired by the answers by the Minister described the situation as deeply worrying.
The Sissala West lawmaker has therefore accused the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) led government of misleading the people regarding the 1D1F policy and slammed President Akufo-Addo for his failure to create a conducive environment that would attract investors to establish 1D1F projects in the Sissala West District.
He questioned why no business investor has shown interest in the Sissala West District for the past seven years under the 1D1F program.