Prof Huq says democracy must develop Ghana

Prof Mozammel Huq a professor at UttarBangla University College Bangladesh on Wednesday commended Ghana for sustaining its democratic credential which has given the country recognition and respect in the world.

He said it was not enough to be a democratic country but that the government should ensure that its new status brought the appropriate growth and development.

Prof Huq, who had written a book on the economy of Ghana, said this when he answered questions after a public lecture organized by the University of Cape Coast (UCC) on the Topic “Building Technology Capacity: lessons of Technology Transfer for Sub-Saharan Africa and Challenges for the Future”.

The Lecture was chaired by the Pro-Vice Chancellor Prof John Nelson Buah and attended by professors, deans, heads of departments and faculties and lecturers.

Prof Huq, who is also a professor at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, said he was of the view that democratic accountability should help enhance growth in sub-Saharan Africa and that they should strive to develop their human resource capital as well as science and technology.

He said sub-Saharan African countries could not dictate market prices if they remained borrowers of technology.

For instance, he went on, Ghana had a low industrial base with about a one-quarter of its GDP originating from the industrial sector with only about 7.3 per cent of GDP from manufacturing.

He said in Ghana, unlike Nepal, manufacturing exports comprised a very low share in total exports of about only 12 per cent recorded in 2005, which further reduced to less than 7 per cent in 2012 as compared to 74 per cent in Nepal.

Prof Huq spoke about the low manufacturing base of Ghana and said it was a cause of serious concern and asked that pragmatic measures such as interventions in technological capacity building should be taken to address the problem.

The Professor said the economic decline experienced by Ghana especially during the first 25 years of independence was not very helpful for strengthening the required institutional bases for technological capability building.

“The early years were particularly discouraging and much of what went wrong with industry and agriculture was a result of inappropriate technology choices”, he said.

Prof Huq said there was also a tendency to depend heavily on suppliers credit which was particularly unhelpful especially as machinery and equipment contained on suppliers credit were usually associated with exceptionally high investment costs and more capital intensive techniques than required.

Prof Huq is a graduate of the Universities of Rajshahi and Glasgow and has written a number of articles and books including The Economy of Ghana: The first 25 years since independence.