Dr Ishmael Yamson, Chairman of the seven-member crew for the Nationwide Financial Dialogue
Former Unilever Ghana boss Dr Ishmael Yamson, has criticised the present state of state-owned enterprises (SOEs), arguing that they’ve turn out to be instruments for political pursuits fairly than serving their meant financial goal.
The Board Chairman of MTN Ghana talking on Pleasure Information’ PM Specific Enterprise Version final Thursday, lamented the decline of Ghana’s industrial sector for the reason that overthrow of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah.
“We had been very proud to be Ghanaians after independence,” the economist recalled.
“Anytime I walked into Unilever Home in London, each African recognized as Ghanaian, and the British assumed each African was from Ghana. We had been very happy with ourselves.”
He famous that after political independence, Nkrumah set the nation on a path towards financial independence, however this imaginative and prescient crumbled when he was faraway from energy.
Dr. Yamson recounted Ghana’s industrial vibrancy within the Sixties, significantly in Tema, the place factories had been thriving.
“I labored at UAC, and Unilever’s manufacturing unit was subsequent to the Ghana Publishing Firm in Tema. All over the place in Tema, factories had been operating. You may hear industrialisation going down,” he mentioned.
He credited Nkrumah for establishing almost 400 vertically built-in manufacturing firms, guaranteeing that uncooked supplies had been available for native manufacturing.
“My first Volkswagen, the tires had been made by the Bonsa Tyre Manufacturing facility,” he mentioned. “There was a rubber plantation feeding the manufacturing unit to provide tires for vehicles. What else did we wish at the moment?”
Nonetheless, he blamed the decline of Ghana’s industrial sector on the intervention of Bretton Woods establishments and the navy authorities, which led to the closure of many factories.
“They pressured the navy authorities to close down an entire lot of those factories,” he mentioned.
Reflecting on his tenure as Chairman of Unilever, Dr. Yamson recalled that over 370 firms had been earmarked for divestiture.
Whereas he acknowledged that divestiture itself was not a flawed thought, he criticized its execution.
“Nkrumah himself lamented that state-owned enterprises, meant to gasoline industrialisation and progress, had been making losses. He knew one thing was unsuitable with authorities managing all these factories. So bringing within the non-public sector wasn’t a foul thought,” he defined.
“However we didn’t act judiciously. What number of of these firms are left at this time? Most of them collapsed.”
Dr Yamson cited a current presentation by the Finance Minister on the Nationwide Financial Dialogue, which revealed that solely two SOEs had been worthwhile, whereas the remainder had been making losses.
“Why? As a result of they’re there to promote political curiosity, not the aim for which they had been established,” he pressured.
He additionally criticised Ghana’s repeated reliance on the Worldwide Financial Fund (IMF).
“How can a rustic in 68 years go to the IMF 17 instances for a bailout? And allow us to pray we don’t go for an 18th time,” he mentioned.
Regardless of these challenges, Dr. Yamson stays hopeful that Ghana can reset its economic system.
“Just like the British say, the scenario is tough, however it’s not hopeless. I nonetheless have hope that if we comply with the reset agenda, as now we have all identified and made proposals, we shouldn’t must go for the 18th bailout,” he concluded.
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