Ghanaian Hating Ghana
Do we really love our country or we just want to complain? Yesterday, I read a news feed; “A survey of goods sold in Ghana’s leading supermarkets has shown that only 18% of goods in 23 product categories surveyed are locally produced.”
Where does that leave us if 82% of consumption is imported? To even say 82% import is probably an underestimation. I believe there are a lot of industries or sectors that have 100% imports.
We are looking for jobs and growth in our businesses among other necessaries. But we hate ourselves as a people! We never want anything from our own country. We are spending our monies developing other economies so they can have great businesses and once in a long while, set-up a small establishment here for some few Ghanaians to work and the rest are home or living a something subsistent.
Let’s take the dress we wear to office daily. Our GTP, ATL or other textiles have 2 colour themes and sometimes single colour print that we can wear to look great for our work places. But dare dress in fine beautiful Ghana prints and lose your job for not being a professional. Are we a serious country? We just want somebody’s culture and call it professional. Is professional not a thing we define with our own standards? Why should a dress that has no Ghana “manufacture” content in it be professional in Ghana?
We have our local rice. But now these polished rice even goes stale within 24 hours after cooking. What are we eating? But we like it. Planting for food and jobs gave plantain on last season. Probably planting for food and jobs can do rice the next season. Rice becomes so cheap like GHS1 per cup. We all develop taste for it and stop spending our monies to create unemployment.
Well I have said mine.
Ph.D. Student (Bioinformatics) | Graduate Research Assistant (Radiation Biology) | Bioinformatician | QECS Alumnus | Biotechnologist | Microbiologist
5 年Hmm, well said Tilly. Though not something new, it's worth reminding ourselves from time to time of pertinent issues like this. It's sad we (Ghanaians) always give excuses such as high cost and low quality or attractiveness of locally manufactured goods and forgetting that those countries we import from began from somewhere and were once in our shoes. Even if Ghana-made good are inferior/poor why not manage till we get there too??
Internal Auditor at Rabito Clinic Limited
5 年I don't think it is a matter of Ghanaians hating on Ghana. It is about the disposable income and goods in supply. I worked in a company whose rice was sold out in a few weeks, there was more demand than the Company could produce. It was of imported quality and affordable. If we had all our goods that way, Ghanaians will buy more made-in-Ghana goods. If I have limited funds, I will go for what is most affordable which provides a level of quality.