Ghana’s ambitious One District One Factory (1D1F) initiative, launched under the previous administration to spur industrialization and curb import dependency, failed to capitalize on a critical opportunity to align with the country’s mining sector procurement policies, according to natural resources governance expert Dr. Steve Manteaw.
The disconnect, he argues, undermined job creation, exacerbated foreign exchange pressures, and weakened local manufacturing growth.
The 1D1F program, touted as a transformative economic strategy, aimed to establish factories nationwide to boost domestic production and employment. However, Dr. Manteaw notes it was implemented without integrating Ghana’s Local Content and Local Participation Regulations, which mandate mining firms to source goods and services from domestic suppliers. This oversight allowed mining companies and their subcontractors to continue importing materials ranging from machinery to basic supplies from international markets like China, bypassing potential Ghanaian producers.
“It’s unimaginable that an ambitious industrialization program like 1D1F was in no way linked to local content opportunities in mining,” Dr. Manteaw stated in an analysis cited by The High Street Journal. He attributed the gap to a misalignment between Ghana’s mining and trade policies, which left the 1D1F factories without incentives or frameworks to supply the mining sector’s procurement needs. The mining industry’s annual demand for imported inputs, estimated at hundreds of millions of dollars, could have been met locally under a coordinated strategy, he argued, easing pressure on Ghana’s foreign reserves and creating thousands of jobs.
The economic repercussions of this policy fragmentation have been significant. Ghana continues to grapple with trade imbalances and currency depreciation, partly driven by mining-related imports. Meanwhile, 1D1F factories, many struggling to secure sustainable markets, missed a ready-made customer base in the mining sector. Dr. Manteaw emphasized that the local content law, enacted in 2012 to foster domestic manufacturing capacity, has yet to achieve its intended impact due to such disjointed planning.
Despite the shortcomings, Dr. Manteaw expressed cautious optimism about the current government’s renewed focus on aligning natural resource governance with broader economic goals. He urged authorities to “push harder” to synchronize industrialization efforts with mining sector procurement policies, stressing that even well-funded programs risk failure without cohesive interagency coordination.
The critique underscores a recurring challenge in resource-rich economies: translating extractive industry demand into diversified local growth. As Ghana revises its strategies, the 1D1F experience serves as a stark reminder that siloed policymaking can stifle synergies between sectors, leaving untapped potential and economic vulnerabilities in its wake. Analysts suggest future initiatives must prioritize cross-sectoral integration, ensuring industrial projects are anchored to existing demand pipelines while strengthening regulatory enforcement to maximize local value retention.
Source: News Ghana / Digpu NewsTex
