President Akufo-Addo has indicated that under his administration, more jobs, numbering over 170,000 have been generated through his One-District-One-Factory [1D1F] flagship Programme.
Addressing members of parliament in his #SONA address at the Parliament House today [February 27], the President highlighted the impactful strides made by the government under its flagship “One-District-One-Factory” policy, aimed at catalyzing Ghana’s industrial transformation.
The president disclosed that since its inception six years ago, the initiative has birthed the establishment of some 321 projects, comprising 211 new factories and the expansion of 110 existing ones. Notably, these projects, according to the president, have been strategically distributed across 142 districts, spanning all sixteen regions of the country, with a commendable 54% district coverage achieved thus far.
“Mr. Speaker, this has led to the development of three hundred and twenty-one (321) 1D1F projects, consisting of two hundred and eleven (211) new, medium to large scale factories, and the conscious enabling of one hundred and ten (110) existing companies,” Nana Akufo-Addo said.
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He also emphasized the policy’s pivotal role in stimulating private-sector investment and diversifying manufacturing across the nation.
The President further hinted that tangible outcomes of this initiative extend beyond mere infrastructure development, as it has contributed to the creation of approximately 170,000 jobs within operational companies.
“Mr. Speaker, within this period, some one hundred and seventy thousand (170,000) jobs have been created under the novel 1D1F Programme by companies in operation,” he added.
To What End?
Employment opportunities under the 1D1F programme undoubtedly signify a significant socio-economic impact, emphasizing the program’s effectiveness in fostering inclusive growth, however, the lack of data on the value of jobs created is worrying.
In March of last year, the Fourth Estate, an investigative media hub, revealed some abandoned factories that had been listed by this current government as actively operational. These left-to-rot factories have been listed as part of the job creation machinery being touted by the current government, which begs scrutiny in the number of jobs claimed to have been created through the initiative – the same initiative with several white elephant factories and buildings splattered across the country.
Notable among them are the Akontombra Rice Processing in the Western North, the Casa de Ropa factory in the Central Region, the Birim Oil Mills in the Eastern Region and the Debridge Industries Limited, etc
The much-touted claim that employment opportunities have increased significantly under the 1D1F seems capricious with less data to prove it.
Recently, the Ghana Statistical Service Report released showed that unemployment grew by 1 percentage point between Quarter 3 of 2022 and 2023.
The report also revealed a disturbing picture where the comparative unemployment rate recorded in 2017 based on the Ghana Living Standards survey of 8.4% has increased dramatically to 14.7%, indicating a worse unemployment rate than it was half a decade ago.
As expected, the proportion of wage earners within the overall workforce has declined from 23.5% in 2017 to the current figure of 21.9%. Conversely, the percentage of self-employed individuals has risen from 49.3% in 2017 to 51.6% as of 2023.
These trends indicate that while there has been job expansion, it primarily occurs within risky self-employment rather than secure wage employment.
The question many keep asking is about the quality and sustainability of jobs created and how that has significantly alter the Labour market and improved livelihood outcomes.