Political considerations will not force the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) into promising to build a factory in each of the 216 districts in the country as the opposition New Patriotic Party’s flag bearer, Nana Akufo-Addo, has done, President John Mahama has said.

Delivering highlights of the NDC’s 2016 manifesto on Tuesday, Mr Mahama said: “simple economics teaches us that location of industries is based on certain factors, and, so, if an industry must be viable, you must look at those factors and, so, we are not going to be guided by political considerations in placing factories.”

“I know somebody is talking of one factory, one district,” he joked.

“Location of industries means taking cognition of the whole value chain: the source of raw material, availability of utility services – water, electricity; closeness to markets and a whole raft of issues that we learnt in sixth form economics,” Mr Mahama said.

Mr Akufo-Addo has argued that his one factory per district programme is the means by which a future NPP government under his leadership, should he win the December polls, will industrialise the country.