Presidential candidate and former Minister for Trade and Industry, Alan Kyerematen, has expressed disappointment over the decision by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to discontinue the Presidential Special Initiatives (PSI) programs that he initiated after they assumed power in 2009.

Mr. Kyerematen spearheaded the PSI, which saw Ghana producing garments and textiles, oil palm for export, and cassava for industrial starch purposes.

Speaking at the Institute for Economic Affairs (IEA) Evening Encounter held on October 1, 2024, he lamented that the country was unable to build on these initiatives, which could have significantly grown the economy.

"When I introduced the Presidential Special Initiatives under President Kufuor, I advised the president to identify just four sectors during his presidency. Focusing on those alone could transform Ghana. One was garments and textiles—simply producing garments for export. Bangladesh, one of the poorest countries in the world, exports $30 billion worth of garments to the US market annually, just from sewing shirts and trousers. If Ghana were doing even half of that, we wouldn’t need to rely on the IMF.

“On oil palm, the Malaysians learned how to cultivate oil palm from Ghana in the 1960s. Now, Malaysia earns almost $20 billion from oil palm and its derivatives. What do we do with oil palm in Ghana? I won’t say much for fear that people will quote me saying Alan claimed it’s only used for palm nut soup. But we must go beyond palm nut soup. If we were doing even half of what Malaysia does with oil palm, that’s $10 billion. And if we were producing half of what Bangladesh does in garments and textiles, that’s $15 billion. Together, that’s $25 billion.”

He also emphasized the potential of cassava, stating, "Cassava is the biggest cash cow that Ghana could ever have. When I introduced the PSI for cassava, producing industrial starch from cassava, it led to Guinness Ghana producing cassava beer for the first time at a factory that I built. Imagine turning cassava from a mere food crop into a cash crop. This happened in 2003, during President Kufuor’s tenure."

Alan Kyerematen attributed the discontinuation of these programs to a negative mindset among Ghanaians, which, he believes, hampers national development efforts.

"Because of the negative mindset of Ghanaians—comments like 'Oh, Alan is bringing cassava to kill people,' among others—the NDC had no interest or appetite to continue these initiatives. By now, we could have been one of the world’s leading producers of industrial starch. Did you know that every tablet you swallow contains some form of starch? Industrial starch is used in many industrial preparations," he concluded.



KA

Watch the latest episode of Everyday People on GhanaWeb TV below: