Nana Kwame Bediako pledges industrial transformation for all regions in manifesto

Independent presidential aspirant and leader of the New Force Movement, Nana Kwame Bediako, has unveiled an ambitious plan to industrialize all 16 regions of Ghana during the virtual launch of his manifesto, "The 12 Pillars of Economic Freedom," held tonight.

In a livestream event that drew significant online viewership, Bediako presented a series of artist impressions and mock-ups to illustrate his comprehensive vision for the country’s economic future. 

Central to his strategy is the transformation of the Western Region into the "Texas of Africa," leveraging the area’s rich natural resources to drive industrial growth.

“We have to take the Western Region seriously because it has a lot of natural resources,” Mr. Bediako stated. “Western Region is going to become the Texas of Africa.”

He emphasized the necessity of shifting Ghana’s economic focus from imports to exports, arguing that this approach would strengthen the national economy and mitigate inflation. 

“We need to export more, not import more,” Bediako noted, outlining his plans to build refineries and increase the production of petrochemicals locally. “All we have to do is build our refineries, and we will have competitive prices, and we will save the losses in the economy, the inflation in the economy, just because of industrialization.”

Mr. Bediako highlighted Ghana’s current oil production capacity, which stands at 200,000 barrels per day. He proposed that refining this oil domestically would not only create jobs but also reduce dependency on foreign markets. 

“We produce 200,000 barrels of oil per day in Ghana. We sell this and then, in fact, we let people extract it, go and refine it. They will go back to Europe and buy this same product premium and sell our fuel at 15 point, something cities per liter,” he explained.

The manifesto outlines twelve key pillars aimed at fostering economic freedom and prosperity. 

New Force’s 12 Pillars for Economic Growth;

Pillar 1- 16 Regional Industrial Revolution
Pillar 2- Ghana’s First Water Transportation & Sub-Regional Railway
Pillar 3- Energy City & Technology Hub
Pillar 4- Reserves Reserves Reserves
Pillar 5- National Sovereign Wealth Fund
Pillar 6- The SSNIT Revolution.
Pillar 7- Industri-Cation (Industrialization + Education) 
Pillar 8- Environmental & Human Rights Protection
Pillar 9- The “Apostolic” Government
Pillar 10- Ghana's First $50 Billion

Pillar 11- National Security and Data Protection
Pillar 12- Sports and Creative Industry