DEVELOPING GHANA

By Kofi Owusu Yeboah

(Marketing Lecturer, Spiritan University College –Ejisu).

I have always ask myself, why a country endow with so much natural resources (perhaps) more than any country in the world cannot feed herself not just that but myriads of problems? There is no single region in Ghana without one form or another minerals reserve.
One can talk of gold, timber, industrial diamonds, bauxite, manganese, fish, rubber, hydropower, petroleum, silver, salt, limestone, iron, etc. In fact, there is no single village in Ghana without water body. The country has good rainfall pattern and abundant underground water tables or reserves.  Our land is so fertile that from North to South, you can throw cassava stick anywhere for just three or six months and you have cassava to harvest. In terms of potential tourism sites, do not go there. We have cultural tourism potentials, natural tourism potentials, and we can even create artificial ones. I am yet to come across a country, where you can play with crocodiles in their natural habitat and yet you go un-attack (I am talking about Paga). Imagine if Komfo Anokye Sword were to be in Britain. Well your guess is as good as mine. Every Ghanaian can talk of one form or other tourism potentials or mineral resources in their own village, so I will not worry my readers with mentioning them.

Folks, this is a country that has been blessed by her maker perhaps more than some of the great super-powers in the world. Well, if one thing, you can find Ghanaians explicitly mentioned in the Bible (Genesis 36:27). I have also seen Tema in the bible even though I do not remember the quotation. Our people are so poor that that you wonder whether this country is the country once referred to as Gold Coast. One major achievement (should I called it achievement or stupidity?) that we have strongly uphold is tribalism. If I am lying, check comments on ghanaweb, peacefmonline, and myjoyonline, and you will understand. In fact politicians in Ghana thrive on tribalism. The crescendo of tribalism in Ghana is symbolized by Ashanti-Ewe enmity. Politicians have been consistently, purposefully, and deliberately created and fuel Ashanti and Ewe enmity. In fact this whole enmity was created by them with the active connivance of the educated class. However, the sad aspect is that most Ashanti/Akan and Ewes are not even aware that they are brethren and that their separation was due to migration. Well, folks, I want to end here on the issue of tribalism as this is not the main reason of my piece.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Ghana does not need much to develop.  I have identified seven key sectors of the economy as very important (I have deliberately ignore road construction, because I do not want to pretend that, I know the cost of road construction). These key areas are agriculture, industrialization, housing, health, education, security, sports. So, I say government should set aside GHs 6billion every year for the next 8 years (the amount can be adjusted for inflation and increase in income). This money can be taking from government revenue. After all, government total revenue for 2013 was over GHs 19 billion and total public sector wages and salaries was a little over GHs 8billion, thus a difference of GHs 11 billion. So, this GHs 6 billion can be taken from the GHs 11 billion, leaving GHs 5billion for other things in addition to inflows from government borrowings. Besides, some of the areas that the GHs 6 billion will be invested will repay itself. The GHs 6billion per year will be share to the 7 areas as follows:

Sector	Amount (GHs)	Total for 8 Years
Agriculture	1 billion	8 billion
Industrialization (SMEs)	1 billion	8 billion
Housing	1 billion	8 billion
Health	1 billion	8 billion
Education	1 billion	8 billion
Sports	0.5 billion	4 billion
Security	0.5 billion	4 billion.
TOTAL	6 BILLION	48 BILLION

·         The total of GHs 48billion is less than Ghana’s current debt of over GHs 56 billion and still counting.

·         The GHs 6billion per year is equal to what government will used to service interest on debt in 2014

The amount will be shared to each district equally. There are 235 districts in Ghana now. So the total distribution will be as follows:

Sector	Amount Per District per year (GHs) (235 districts)	Total per each district for 8 years. (GHs),
Agriculture	4, 255,319.149	34,042,553.19
Industrialization (SMEs)	4, 255,319.149	34,042,553.19
Housing	4, 255,319.149	34,042,553.19
Health	4, 255,319.149	34,042,553.19
Education	4, 255,319.149	34,042,553.19
Sports	2,127,659.575	17,021,276.60
Security	2,127,659.575	17,021,276.60
TOTAL	6 billion	48 billion

Utilization of the Funds.

1. Agricultural Fund.

The agriculture fund should be divided into 4 parts of GHs 1 million each. These parts are: credit (to be manage by the rural banks); inputs (can be sold through existing agric dealers); specific farm projects (eg. Rice farming, livestock, plantations, etc); specific agric infrastructure (e.g. dam, cold store, etc). The total money invested here should be recovered. Thus for 8 years, the total investment in each district per the four thematic areas will be as follows:

Agric Sector	Amount Per District per each year (GHs).	Total per each district for 8 years (GHs)
Credit	1 million	8 million
Inputs	1 million	8 million
Specific farm projects	1 million	8 million
Specific agric infrastructure	1 million	8 million
Total	4 million	32 million

*assuming each of these four agric sectors recruit 100 workers, 752,000 jobs will be created for the whole country; 94000 per each year for the whole country; 400 for each district per year; 3,200 per district for the 8 years.

2. Industrialization.

The total amount of GHs 4m should be used to established small factories of GH500, 000 per each factory. The shares of these factories should be sold through the rural banks, so that ownership and management of these factories or businesses will be in the hands of the local people. This will also be one way of helping Ghanaians to take over Ghana’s economy. Traditional rulers may use their lands as equity in these businesses. Thus per this, the factory situations per each district will be as follows:

Amount Per factory	GHs 0.5 million
No. of factories per year per each district	8
No. of factories 4 years per each district	32
No. of factories  per each district for 8 years	64
Total no. of factories per each year for the whole country	1,880
Total no. of factories for 4 years for the whole country	7,520
Total no. of factories for 8 years for the whole country	15,040

*assuming each factory recruit 10 workers, a total of 150, 400 jobs will be created in 8 years with 640 jobs per year for the whole country; 640 for each district for 8 years; and 80 for each district per year.

3. Housing.

The GHs 4 million allocated to each district per each year can be used to build 1 or 2 storey building value GHs 200,000 each. The government can use local people from the districts for this construction projects.  Traditional rulers can use their lands as equity in this project. The amount invested can be recovered. Thus, the total housing units will be as follows:

Amount Per building	GHs 0.2 million
No. of buildings per year per each district	20 housing units
No. of buildings for  4 years per each district	80 housing units
No. of buildings  per each district for 8 years	160. housing units
Total no. of buildings per each year for the whole country	4,700 housing units
Total no. of buildings for 4 years for the whole country	18,800 housing units
Total no. of buildings for 8 years for the whole country	37,600 housing units

*assuming each housing unit construction recruits 5 workers, a total of 188,000 jobs will be created for the whole country for 8 years, 23,500 jobs per each year; 100 jobs per each district per year; 800 per each district for the 8 years.

4. Health.

The amount of GHs 4 million will be invested in four areas of  the health sector as follows: New hospital buildings GHs 1 million; Equipment GHs 1million; medical staff training GHs 1 million (including building of nurses training schools); GHs 1 million for other things like rehabilitation, drugs procurement, and allowances. So for 4 years each district will have 4 fully equip hospital value GHs 2 million (1 million + 1 million) (that is 940 for the whole country). I think after 4 years no new hospitals should be built, the money can be channel into other areas of the health factor following the same plan.

Assuming the health sector recruits 50 workers for each district per year; 200 for 4 years per each district; 400 for 8 years per each district; 94,000 for the whole country for 8 years.

5. Education.

The Government can spend the first GHs 4 million cedis in building three types of schools: SHS; Vocational; and Apprenticeship schools. The second year’s GH 4 million Ghana cedis should be used to put up one tertiary institution for vocational and apprenticeship schools graduates. The government should consult educational experts on what to use the remaining funds for the next 6 years for. This means that each district will have one new SHS (235 SHS fulfilling the NDC government manifesto of 200 schools); 1 vocational school (235 new for the whole country); apprenticeship school (235); and 1 tertiary (235 for the whole country).

Assuming the institutions alone recruit 20 workers each, 18,800 jobs will be created.

6. Security.

For the purpose of this piece, I will concentrate only on police and fire service. Thus, the GH 2 million will be shared as follows; Police GHs 1.5 million; fire GHs 0.5 million. The first years GHs 1.5 million should be use to build three police offices in each district. The next year’s GHs 1.5 million should be used to build gyms for each of the three offices, office equipment such as computers, printers, scanners, etc. The remaining years amount should be used as may be expertly advice by the police council. The fire service can follow similar patterns.

Assuming the security services (police and fire) recruit 50 people per each district for the entire 8 years, 11,750 jobs will be created.

7. Sports.

This is one area that can create so much employment for the people. The first two years GHs 4 million should be invested in four main infrastructures: GHs 1 million for mini football stadium; GHs 1 million for small athletics stadium; the remaining GHs 2 million for two other mini stadiums as may be determine by each district. The second two year’s GHs 4 million should go into building of sports academies. The subsequent years funds should go into other areas as may be determine by sports journalist, sports associations, districts, and other experts. However, this should be done before the whole project is even started.

Assuming the sports sector recruit 150 people for each district, 35,250 jobs will be created.

Total direct Jobs that will be created.

Sectors	No. of Jobs to be created for 8 years	No. of Jobs to be created for 4 years	No. of Jobs to be created per years	No. of Jobs for each district for 8 years	No. of Jobs per district for 4 years	No. of Jobs per district per years
Agriculture	752,000	376,000	94, 000	3,200	1600	400
Factories	150,400	75,200	18,800	640	320	80
Housing	188,000	94,000	23,500	800	400	100
Education	18,800	9,400	2,350	80	40	10
Health	94,000	47,000	11,750	400	200	50
Security	11,750	5,875	1,469	50	25	6
Sports	35,250	17,625	4,406	150	75	19
Total	1,250,200	625,100	156,275	5,320	2,660	665