myjoyonline.com | 2/25/2016

The Chief Executive of Dalex Finance Kenneth Thompson has reiterated the call for government to channel the nation’s resources into developing the agricultural sector to the benefit of the economy.

Ghana, according to him, has a comparative advantage in the Agric sector hence, should take urgent steps to not only modernise cultivation of agro products, but also add value for exportation.

Mr. Thompson spoke with JOY BUSINESS after a public forum organised by the Chartered Institute of Marketing in partnership with Dalex Finance.

For him, it is not conceivable that Ghana can become an exporter of manufactured goods in the short-to-medium term therefore the focus should be on advantage because that is where the country has a comparative advantage.

“I have always said that we all know what to do and if we don’t do it, our children will suffer because the sins of the fathers shall be visited upon their children. Ghana can only go forward if we focus on things that we have a comparative advantage in, and top on that list is agriculture” he emphasized.

Mr. Thompson noted that focusing on producing processed and semi-processed goods for exports would rapidly put the country on the road to recovery. We could even include services like tourism. That is the only way through which we could generate foreign exchange for ourselves and future generations.

Ghana’s economic woes according to him, defy solutions mainly due to a “Rat Race” defined as “a fiercely competitive struggle for wealth by corrupt means.”

Ghanaian political elite (both sides of the political divide) and their complicit technocrats he said are the ones engaged in this “Rat Race.”

“In 2011, Ghana was the fastest growing economy in the world. Why is it that in a scant 5 years since then, the economy of Ghana has gone into steep decline and now is in dire straits?” he asked. A “failure to face up to the fact that the country was broke hence cut back on expenditure, foolhardy borrowing, inequitable taxation and appalling lack of investment in agriculture” in his view were some of the reasons why Ghana has slipped back economically. He wants government to support agriculture by providing seedlings and fertilizer to rapidly turn the sector around.
The CIMG Evening with Kenneth Kwamina Thompson was under the theme “In the Abundance of Water, Ghanaians are thirsty.”