Trade and Industry Minister, Alan Kyerematen has told Parliament he cannot supply the House the list of companies that have benefitted from incentives under the One District, One Factory (1D1F) programme.

Addressing the House on Thursday, the Minister said ₵1.7 billion was disbursed to 172 companies over the last three years but due to collaboration with financial institutions, he cannot speak on the exact figure.

“The participating financial institutions have a fiduciary relationship with the known beneficiaries for which interest subsidies or counterpart financing has been provided. 

“Against this background, I am not authorised to speak on behalf of the financial institutions who have provided the funding to the beneficiary companies,” he stated.

Reacting to this, the Minority in Parliament accused Mr Kyerematen of conjuring figures to make the 1D1F initiative a success story when it is not.

MP for Kumbungu Constituency, Ras Mubarak in an interview with Joy News explained that government’s refusal to publicize the supposed 172 beneficiaries smacks of dishonesty.

“They are excitedly going round the country touting 1D1F as a success story and point at factories, that are supposedly under 1D1F but they can’t provide the representatives of these factories.

“So clearly you see some levels of dishonesty in the responses to the questions [we asked],” he said.

One District One Factory Programme is an initiated instituted by President Nana Akuffo-Addo to address the challenge of slow economic growth at the district level through nationwide industrialisation, which will equip and empower communities to utilise their local resources in manufacturing products that are in high demand both locally and internationally.

The programme is expected to facilitate the creation of between 7,000 to 15,000 jobs per district and between 1.5 million and 3.2 million nationwide by end of 2021.