Veteran journalist Kwesi Pratt has argued that Ghana’s infrastructure system still mirrors the colonial blueprint, built to extract and export rather than connect and develop.
“If you look at national infrastructure, all of the railways in Ghana start from areas of concentrated wealth and end at the ports,” he observed in an interview monitored by Lovinghananews.com.
“This is typical of the colonial economy. It hasn’t changed.”
Pratt believes Ghana needs a new model, one that prioritizes national integration over export facilitation, and he sees China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) as a potential pathway.
“The Belt and Road Initiative gives us the opportunity for the rebuilding of national infrastructure with a new orientation,” he stated.
He contrasted China’s approach to that of Western powers, suggesting that Beijing’s partnerships are less politically conditional.
“In the West, aid and assistance are seen as foreign policy instruments. In China, they’re not foreign policy instruments,” Pratt noted. To him, this difference allows Ghana greater freedom in pursuing its own infrastructure and economic priorities.
Still, Pratt acknowledged that Ghana’s trade relationship with China remains imbalanced. “Over the last couple of years, we have increased our exports to China by only 11%, while Chinese exports to Ghana have increased by 45%,” he said.
He cautioned that Ghana must diversify its exports to narrow the gap, especially as cocoa, once a major export, faces global competition, including from China.
“What we may be able to offer China are some minerals. For example, China is very big on electric car manufacturing, and we appear to have a lot of lithium,” he explained.
Highlighting a major project, Pratt pointed to Ghana’s proposed petroleum hub in the Western Region, describing it as “the second biggest project in Africa.”
He believes Chinese involvement could accelerate its realization and help Ghana move beyond being a raw-material exporter to becoming a manufacturing and export hub.
Source:Lovinghananews.com
