A former finance minister and founder of the House of Duffuor Assets (HODA) group of companies, Dr. Kwabena Duffuor says that Ghana is not a poor country, but rather, corruption and mismanagement have made it poor.
He emphasized that Ghana has the potential to be one of the richest countries in the world due to its vast natural resources but mismanagement on the side of the leaders has caused a devastating economic challenge in the country.
He noted that despite being one of the world’s largest cocoa producers, the country continues to import chocolate from other countries.
“If Ghanaians are poor, we are poor because of the way we are managing our resources. Cassava alone can turn this country around within a year. For cassava, we are next to Nigeria in terms of potential, or capacity building. The whole world, we are number five for cassava. We have the resources” he continued.
Dr. Duffour added that until we address corruption and mismanagement, we will continue to lag behind in our development.
In an interview on the ATLANTIC WAVE, Dr. Duffuor explained that Ghana has the resources and with proper management, the country would bounce back better.
We have huge resources. If anybody tells you this country is poor, he’s lying. Our natural resources in particular and our mineral resources alone can turn this country around if we manage that particular subsector well” he said.
Dr. Kwabena Duffour revealed that he has been contributing to keeping the legacy of the late President, Prof. John Evans Fiifi Atta Mills alive adding that he is committed to preserving his legacy.
According to him, the late president was a good revenue person adding that “I’ve set up a think tank and I am propagating some of his ideas, advocating some of the views he held when he was alive. I’m also trying to explain to people the projects he ever completed or initiated before he died.”
A case in point is the Komenda Sugar Factory which the two of us took a loan from India for it. It is his or was his project. Much talked about the University of Ghana Medical Center is purely his project. We took the loan from Israel, Banker of Poliom, I signed it and executed that project as Prof. Mill’s project, and the market here is his project. In fact, most of the projects you hear people claim are all his projects” he emphasized.
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Source: Enock Chanimbe/ATLFMNEWS
