<<Print>>The Citizen Watch Ghana, (CWG), has described the operations of the One District, One Factory, (1D1F) secretariat under the Ministry of Trade and Industries, (MOTI) as “toothless and powerless”.
"The 1D1F secretariat at this moment is rendered toothless because first and foremost their performance is not a Key Performance Index (KPI) for any sector or Ministry. In reality, by talking to Ghanaian entrepreneurs from the Private Enterprise Federation, (PEF), Association of Ghanaian Industries, (AGI), Alliance for Development and Industrialization, (ADI) among others, the 1D1F secretariat only make recommendations to institutions and banks but has no power or mandate to support or follow any business through," it said in a statement.
It said so far taxes and trade exemptions benefited by businesses through the Ministry of Trade are minimal, of which majority of these trade exemptions come from the Ministry of Agriculture and agro base industry.
"We are proposing that lets make this a KPI for both government and the various sector institutions for which an authority should be set up with its mandate clearly spelt out," it said.
The Citizen Watch Ghana added that the Ghana Industrial Transformation Authority, (GITA), should establish KPIs for sectors such as agriculture, trade and industry, labour among others to serve as a check and monitor if it is delivering on its mandate or not, for example how many jobs has 1D1F created.
"We are appealing to the government to take into consideration this authority as we prepare for Ghana beyond COVID-19 agenda since self-sustainace is critical. The private sector should understand that the government would not just make available monies for this to happen, they need the right criteria of businessmen, even if they have to be ten to build businesses across the country, it makes sense than wasting money on other people.”
In a statement issued and signed by Francis Agbenyegah, the Convener of the group, it would be prudent for the government to change the 1D1F into Ghana Industrialization and Transformation Authority, (GITA), backed by law to champion the industrialization drive of the country.
They add that the 1D1F, currently don’t have any authority to facilitate any activities of theirs, describing it as a "reference" which has failed to have any law backing its operations, describing it as a "white elephant secretariat”.
“The government must refocus, realign and migrate the 1D1F into Ghana Industrialization and Transformation Authority", adding, “this would help the government to put checks and balances in place to monitor and evaluate the work of the authority through it key performance index".
“Like how MASLOC is under the presidency, we are also proposing that the government should put the GITA under the presidency to champion the industrialization process of this country,” The Citizen Watch Ghana indicated.
“GITA should be under the presidency with strength from the Ministries of Agriculture, Finance, and Trade and must have desk officers to deal with these companies in a timely manner. If we don’t do this, then the government has no focus in dealing with industrialization issues in this country.” it added.
.
They are therefore calling on Parliament to develop a policy towards the Ghana Industrialization Transformation Authority.
"We respectfully call on the President to consider our preposition for the larger interest of businesses in the country,” it said.