Undertaking economic activities for profit is not the role of the government, former President John Agyekum Kufour has said.

According to him, the role of any government is to provide an enabling environment for businesses created by individuals and other corporate bodies to thrive.

In his view, governments all over the world are “expected to govern and not do business”, further explaining that their job is to “set the framework to ensure that the private sector engages in business and does it appropriately”.

Ex-President Kufour expressed the sentiment on Thursday September 1 when he engaged some Ghanaian youth at his residence in Accra over several issues confronting the nation.

He expressed disappointment with the current state of the economy in comparison to that of some Asian countries, which have experienced fast growth even though they gained independence around the same time as Ghana.

He attributed the success of such countries to “good governance and leadership” and admonished the audience at the programme to always engage competent professionals in managing the economy when they get the chance to be appointed or elected into leadership positions.