Coronavirus has come to reinforce Ghana's determination to industrialise

When the big mind comes out with a well thought-out plan, the little minds without ability and capability to comprehend it starts propagating their own doubtful conspiracy theories. Instead of approaching that big mind in a sensible manner to seek better in-depth explanations, they rather choose to rubbish the entire idea, invoking their "It can't be done and it can't be possible" quick fix lazy man's solution.

With the advent of the fatal Coronavirus (Covid-19) culminating in goods flying off shops shelves leaving them totally empty as never witnessed by the current generation before, leading to shortages of essential human needs, the idea to industrialise Ghana cannot be overemphasised.

How long can our current seasonal crop yield that comes in abundance during harvest season and becomes scarce in lean season, help Ghana cope with a world pandemic like the present Covid-19 disease where food and other basic essentials are in panic-buying mode in the developed nations?

As I write, things like toilet paper, certain food items and hand sanitisers have run out in most stores in most of the advanced countries.

It is only processed foods that can last longer to face off the urgent demands as are created by world pandemic disease like the current strain of Coronavirus. Our harvested plantains, cocoa, yam and corn cannot last longer to sustain us alive should the disease last years unlike processed foods.

This is an indisputable fact coming from not only the son of farmers, but a farmer himself, Rockson Adofo.

Therefore, those little minds that have been mocking President Nana Akufo-Addo's "One District One Factory" policy as highly unfeasible and an unintelligent lazy man's approach to running a country or to creating jobs for the youth must please think twice.

Even if his approach has challenges, which of cause it has, why can't we help solve them in the best collective interest of the people and the nation rather than mocking it and trying to chuck it into the skip?

If his industrialisation policy succeeds, will it not answer our problems of periodic food shortages where we are compelled to rely on food importation and handouts from abroad with all their attendant possible contamination of some sort?

The Ghanaian attitude of "We can't do it. It is not possible”, must be discarded for our own best interest or else, we are writing our own doom on the wall, if not in the sky.

Once, a senior and a friend of mine, visited me in Paris, having come from Hamburg in then West Germany. He is one Mr Wiafe from Kumawu-Abotanso. This was in the early 1980s.

He said and I quote, "Once I was admitted to the hospital in Hamburg and a certain old White patient of 96 years in the ward whose bed was next to mine said, why are you black people or Africans so lazy? You always look up to us, white people, to supply you with everything. You can't do anything for yourselves. Do you think in the event of world war when we happen to be fighting other countries, we can have time to put ships on the sea loaded with food and drugs to send to you in Africa? No, we cannot, and shall not, do that. So you had better be mindful of your lazy attitude”

Mr Wiafe said tears started running down his cheeks. However, the Whiteman told him not to cry as he did not mean to offend him as a person but stating the fact about how they, the White people in truth see the African.

Subsequently I call on all Ghanaians to throw away our opaque political lenses to see clearly to better understand the need to industrialise where food can be processed to stay longer to meet our urgent needs come about as a result of unpredictable or unforeseen circumstances as it is with Covid-19.

More grease to the farsightedness of my present day biblical Joseph, "Akyemkwaa" His Excellency Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo. This sort of big mind is who Ghana needs to take the people from Egypt (dark Ghana of can't do) into the promised land of Canaan (bright Ghana of can do) but not those mocking his visionary policies and programmes for their myopic selfish political aspirations.

Let us all learn a lesson from this ongoing deadly virus come to claim more victims of which about 75% of world population are victims in one way or the other.

I dedicate this publication to Mr Wiafe wherever he is in case he is still alive which I pray he is, and the Big mind President Nana Akufo-Addo.