NDC SABOTAGES GHANA’S INDUSTRIAL FUTURE (1D1F INCENTIVES REMOVED, FACTORIES STAND STILL, JOBS LOST)
Ghana’s much-needed industrial transformation is collapsing before our eyes, not because the idea was weak, but because the current NDC administration has quietly dismantled one of the country’s most promising economic engines, which is the One District One Factory (1D1F) initiative. Instead of strengthening a productive national policy that created jobs and spread industrial growth, this government has chosen neglect and political rebranding at the expense of Ghana’s development.
The 1D1F programme was launched in 2017 under the previous NPP government with a clear mission: to establish at least one factory in each of Ghana’s districts, fostering local production, value addition, and widespread employment opportunities. By early 2024, the initiative had driven 321 projects, including 211 new factories and 110 expanding enterprises, covering 54 % of all districts and creating over 170,000 jobs across the country.
But on July 8–9, 2025, the NDC government led by President John Dramani Mahama made a decisive policy shift. Trade, Agribusiness and Industry Minister Elizabeth Ofosu-Adjare stood before Parliament and announced that the 1D1F initiative is officially cancelled and that all incentives tied to the programme have lapsed. “As of now, there is no policy as 1D1F,” she stated plainly, a clear signal that this once-successful industrial engine has been deliberately stalled and defunded.
This unilateral withdrawal of incentives, including duty exemptions, tax breaks, credit support, and technical assistance benefits that underpinned private investment has led many factories to lie idle and put hundreds of local jobs at risk. Without strategic incentives, potential investors are forced to reconsider or abandon projects, directly reversing the momentum that once positioned Ghana on a trajectory toward robust manufacturing growth.
Instead of building on the foundation laid by the NPP, the NDC has opted to replace 1D1F with a vague “24-Hour Economy” policy and agro-processing parks with untested frameworks. While these replacement ideas carry rhetoric about round-the-clock production and export growth, critics, including Members of Parliament, have raised alarm that this abrupt policy shift lacks clarity, continuity, and real incentives to sustain investor confidence.
This neglect is a strategic retreat from industrialization that punishes hardworking Ghanaians in communities that were seeing real growth, opportunity, and hope. Development policies must transcend political cycles and be grounded in continuity, not sudden abandonment.
The NPP stands in its belief that Ghana’s industrial future cannot be sacrificed for partisan rebranding. We demand the reinstatement of effective incentives, a full review of stalled projects, and a renewed commitment to competitive industrial policy that creates jobs, builds local capacity, and drives long-term economic growth. Ghana deserves progress, not regression.
By: Blessing Mantey
