Towards a self-sufficient Ghana, by John Mahama

With every piece of clothing we wear, with every item of food we buy to prepare our meals, with every single thing we use, we should ask ourselves, “Was it made in Ghana?”  And even more important, “Could it have been made in Ghana?”

During my youth it seemed as though people placed a high premium on imported goods because they were rare; not your everyday possessions.  They were often gifts or things that had been carried back from trips abroad.

My father owned a Teasmade automatic tea maker, which he’d acquired during a trip to England.  It had a clock, with a timer and an alarm, which my father programmed every single night without fail so that by the time he was up and alert, his first cup of tea would be ready and waiting for him.  He cherished that machine.  But it was one of only a small number of things in our home that was not made in Ghana.

My father, like most Ghanaians, mostly purchased products that were manufactured in Ghana. This was d