Saturday, 6 July 2019

There Is No Reason Why Ghana Should Not Be A Wealthy Nation With A Well-Off Population

The agricultural sector is key to Ghana becoming a rich nation. President Akufo-Addo is therefore absolutely right in making it a priority sector,  in his wealth-creation agenda for ordinary Ghanaians.  If the government wants to generate the same kind of energy that made General Kutu  Acheampong's regime's Operation Feed Yourself agricultural  policy such a success, it ought to invite the U.S.YouTube permaculture farming star, Ron Greenwood,  to Ghana, to share ideas with.

Were our politicians to commit to replicating some of his ideas - which in a sense are  greener variants of our country's various farming initiatives over the years -  it would attract young people into farming, and revolutionalise farming in Ghana. There is enough land in the hands of Chiefs to give freely to every Ghanaian willing to take up farming as a business, across Ghana.

Furtheremore, if approached, I am pretty sure that the African Development Bank (AfDB) would agree to provide grant funding that will enable  interested Ghanaians to go to district agricultural centres to collect free seeds and  seedlings to grow.  The question is: Would that not  help eradicate poverty in Ghana? This country is being held back because far too many people lack the imagination to understand that the only thing preventing Ghana from progressing rapidly is that  we seldom do original thinking.

Otherwise why would there be a crisis in Parliament, over a sensible decision to have a purpose-built Parliament to facilitate  the very important role Parliament plays as a law-making bulwark against tyranny  in Ghana - all because many think we cannot afford it at the moment, and that it is not a societal priority?  Says, who, I ask? Haaba.

And, whiles we are at it,  can our many brilliant lawyers and  economists tell this old fool what disaster could possibly befall Ghana, if we ceded the biggest island in the Volta Lake to Facebook for 99 years, so the tech giant can turn it into a sovereign mini-state, to enable it  operate freely without any regulatory busybodies restricting its growth  -  and help make our country super-rich in the process?

Naturally, a condition for such a unique and  mouth-watering deal for Facebook, would be that it would  make an upfront payment of US $100 billion, and thereafter make annual payments to Ghana of at least 10 billion dollars as ground rent for the island. Ditto make  the Bank of Ghana a partner in the Facebook Libra cryptocurrency project by giving it free shares. Let us get both Rob Greenwood and Mark Zuckerberg  to Ghana to discuss both matters with our nation's ruling élites  asap. That is how President Nkrumah operated - he befriended  brilliant people from around the globe  to help in Ghana's nation-building process. There is no reason why Ghana should not be a wealthy nation with a well-off population. We only need to think the impossible is actually possible. Haaba

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