President Akufo-Addo, is hopeful that locally produced goods will find space and be sold in the newly commissioned Kumasi City Mall and not only imported goods.
He said “It would be truly commendable if, by the end of the first year of its operation, at least 20% of the goods that are sold here should be of Ghanaian origin, and the percentages increase as Ghanaian industrial production rapidly expands.”
Delivering a speech at a ceremony Wednesday to official launch the Kumasi City Mall, the President bemoaned the fact that Ghana continues to be a retailer of cheap imported goods, whilst the capacity of local producers remains weak and their products suffer low patronage.
President Akufo-Addo at the Woodin shop at KCM
“I know very well that, in some of our malls and supermarkets across the country, carrots sold, for example, are imported from Holland. Some of the dressed chickens on sale have also come from Brazil. Indeed, the items originating from Ghana and from our local entrepreneurs constitute barely a paltry 5% of goods on sale,” he lamented.
He noted, however, that all over the world, new enterprises, such as the Kumasi City Mall, have spawned the creation of jobs and investments, and triggered increased local spending.
“Supermarkets and many shopping malls in several parts of the world, particularly in the advanced economies, have become magnets for production. It is my hope that the Kumasi City Mall will not only be a place for the sale of imported goods, but also Ghanaian goods,” he stressed.
He encouraged shop owners and supermarkets, like Shoprite, to increase the proportion of Ghanaian goods sold at the shop, by getting more local farmers and entrepreneurs to produce for them.
“We want Kumasi to be a place of work again, not just a place where people come for funerals. We want to bring jobs back to this city, and restore Kumasi to its position, once again, of being The Garden City. The support government gives to the private sector is intended to translate into greater economic activities of our entrepreneurs, producers and farmers. Kumasi City Mall should bear witness of this increased activity,” he said.
