Former President John Agyekum Kufuor has called on Ghana to prioritise wealth creation as a foundation for improving education, healthcare and other essential social services.
He said the country could not provide quality education and adequate healthcare without the financial resources needed to sustain these critical sectors.
Speaking on Ghana’s development priorities, Mr Kufuor stressed the need for a pragmatic approach that places national security and wealth creation at the centre of the country’s economic and social development.
He said securing the country was important, but wealth creation must become the next major priority to enable the government to provide essential public services.
“Can’t give quality education if you don’t have the resources. Healthcare, you can’t support it. So prioritise wealth creation,” he said.
The former president argued that economic growth should be driven largely by private initiative rather than the state directly engaging in activities such as agriculture, trading and other businesses.
“It’s not the state that should go into agriculture, business, trading. No. Allow the people themselves to take the initiatives, and they can do it,” he said.
Mr Kufuor cited the development of Ghana’s cocoa industry before independence as an example of how private initiative could transform the economy.
He said smallholder farmers, many of whom cultivated relatively small plots of land, played a significant role in making the Gold Coast the world’s leading cocoa producer within two to three decades.
“Cocoa farmers, the average farmer, didn’t farm beyond, say, five acres. A tiny farmer was in it, but they did it. Within twenty, thirty years, they became number one producers of cocoa in the whole world, and they did it private,” he said.
He noted that the achievement demonstrated the potential of ordinary Ghanaians to drive economic transformation when given the opportunity to take initiative.
Mr Kufuor said Ghana could have made greater progress after independence by recognising and building on the capabilities of its people.
He also called for a pragmatic approach to governance, arguing that national development policies must reflect economic realities and focus on building the resources needed to support public services.
The former President maintained that sustainable social interventions depend on a productive economy capable of generating the revenue required to finance them.
His comments highlight the importance of strengthening private-sector participation, supporting local enterprise and expanding economic opportunities as part of efforts to improve education, healthcare and living standards in Ghana.
Source: Newspyramid.com
