Political instability derailed economy progress - Ndoum

Political instability and a weak cultural mindset have been identified as drawbacks to Ghana's advance into becoming an economic giant on the continent.

Making reference to what political stability could do to a country, Dr Kwesi Ndoum, Minister of Economic Planning and Regional Integration, said it was a sure way of boosting economic activity, increasing investor confidence and moving the nation forward on several fronts.

Dr Ndoum said at a day's workshop to review Ghana's Investment Policy in Accra on Thursday that Ghana would be a better place to live in if the nation did away with political upheavals and changed its poor cultural mentality to a productive lifestyle.

"Abrupt ends to governments have since the 1960s resulted in the abandonment of viable and constructive development projects which usually are not continued by those who take power. After 45 years we are poorer today than at independence."

Dr Ndoum noted that the several development plans including the Vision 2020, the blueprint for socio-economic development produced by the National Democratic Congress (NDC), had not worked.

He said 1951-1959 development plan "worked to about 70 per cent with the building of the Tema Motorway, Korle Bu Hospital, Tema and Takoradi harbours, and a number of secondary schools in the country, but it was halted.

The Minister urged Ghanaians to drop their "weak cultural mindset" and ensure that they become productive, adopt good practices and not fall back to "Ghanaian culture" as excuses for their inability to do things right.

We as a people must adopt a significant shift in national culture and the way we do things to ensure that we are not left behind."

Dr Ndoum called for urgent attention to these two areas in discussing the new national vision that begins tomorrow.

Mr Kwesi Abeasi, Chief Executive of the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) said the conference falls in line with activities to make the centre achieve its set objectives of a one-stop shop for investment.

He expressed regret that direct foreign investment flow has been slow, describing it as "unsatisfactory", especially after the events of September 11 attacks on New York and Washington in the US.

"What is refreshing is that it has led to a general slow down in the entire world economy and by this we can reposition ourselves to start things afresh."

Dr Khalil Hamdani of UNCTAD attributed Ghana's peculiar situation to an un-sustained inflow of foreign direct investment.

He said Ghana has the potential even though it is currently listed as the 20th in Africa in terms of foreign direct investment.

Dr Hamdani said Ghana is not tapping enough from its traditional linkages for investment in the world.

The conference coordinated by the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and GIPC, aims at fine-tuning Ghana's Investment Code and maximising foreign direct investment while raising per capita income considerably.