Sometimes when I listen to Ghana’s national conversation, I ask myself: where are the engineers, manufacturers, industrialists, scientists and other technical professionals?
Why is so much of our public discourse dominated by lawyers and legal matters, while comparatively little attention is given to engineering, manufacturing, industrialisation, technology, production and employment?
This is not an argument against lawyers. Law is essential to national development. But a country cannot litigate its way into industrialisation. We need the people who design, build, manufacture, process, innovate and create productive jobs to have a much stronger voice in shaping the national agenda.
Every weekend, programmes such as Newsfile, The Key Point and other major media platforms dedicate significant airtime to political and legal debates. These conversations have their place. But imagine if, for one full year, the same level of national attention was deliberately given to engineering, manufacturing, industrialisation, agriculture, technology, energy, infrastructure, value addition and employment.
Take just last week and this weekend. A significant portion of the national conversation has been dominated by the attempted arrest of one individual, an arrest that was ultimately unsuccessful, all the media has been discussing is asking the legal floors surrounding the attempted arrest. The discussions continue today too Monday and throughout the coming week, with lawyers, politicians and legal experts analysing the constitutional and procedural issues.
But at the same time, we have industrial and economic issues affecting businesses, workers and livelihoods that receive far less sustained national attention. For example, AGATEX Paint, one of Ghana’s paint manufacturers, has had its operations halted, with consequences for people who have depended on the company for employment over the years. Where is the sustained national media conversation about what happened, how it affects workers and the wider economy, and whether there is a way to find a fair and workable resolution?
Where is the serious discussion about Ghana’s abandoned or underperforming industrial assets? Where is the sustained conversation about the revival of the factories and productive enterprises established during the Nkrumah era, or about how existing industrial capacity can be restored, modernised and made competitive?
We need economic development conversations. We need employment conversations. We need industrialisation Conversations. We need national development Conversations.
I challenge Bullet TV to start and create these niches for themselves. They should not just do what everyone else is doing. You can still bring the government into these conversations and get the hype you want. Let your morning show earn that trademark of development conversations.
Let the Ministry of Trade, the Ministry of Youth, the Ministry of Science and Technology, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs always be on your show, with how they are connecting the dots discussed every day on your morning show. Something is always happening in these ministries, so partner with them and have a reporter stationed there to report on their activities regularly. Create your own news discuss it and let it become the headline news. Find who and how many are employed in big push etc
Imagine a national conversation that constantly asked: What are we producing? What are we importing that we could manufacture ourselves? Why are our factories not operating at full capacity? What is happening to Ghanaian manufacturers? How do we protect and expand productive jobs? How do we move from exporting raw materials to processing and manufacturing finished products? What engineering and technological solutions can address our infrastructure, energy and production challenges?
Sometimes I listen to the Chinese media space and the difference is striking. There is sustained attention to manufacturing, industrial capacity, technology, engineering, infrastructure, energy, exports and the movement of production up the value chain. Similar attention to production, industrial competitiveness, technology and manufacturing can be seen in the economic discourse of countries such as Germany and South Korea. These countries their public conversations regularly engage with the companies, technologies, infrastructure, skills and policies that support productive capacity.
Ghana does not need to copy China, Germany or South Korea. But there is an important principle we can learn from: what a society consistently discusses, measures and demands accountability for can influence what becomes a national priority.
The media therefore has enormous power and responsibility in shaping the direction of the country. If our major platforms consistently placed industrialisation and productive economic activity at the centre of the national conversation, they could help change public expectations and create greater pressure on policymakers to address the real constraints to production, investment, technology and employment.
Ghana does not only need better laws. We need an economy that produces.
We need engineers, scientists, manufacturers, entrepreneurs and technical professionals to step forward and participate much more actively in defining the economic questions Ghana debates every day.
Because we cannot build a productive economy if our national conversation is disconnected from production.
Ernest Apetsi
Executive Secretary & Head of Secretariat
Africa Development Council (ADC)
