Kwesi Pratt urges Ghana to revisit Nkrumah’s development strategy

Veteran journalist and Pan-Africanist Kwesi Pratt Jnr has urged Ghana to revisit some of the development principles that guided Dr Kwame Nkrumah’s Seven-Year Development Plan as the country searches for lasting solutions to its economic difficulties.

According to Mr Pratt, the plan, which was designed to cover the period from 1963 to 1970, demonstrated the importance of long-term national planning and strategic investment in infrastructure, education, energy, industry and social development.

He said several of the projects undertaken during the period created national assets that continued to benefit subsequent generations, making the plan an important reference point for contemporary economic policy.

Mr Pratt made the remarks in Cape Coast while delivering the 15th Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Lecture organised by the University of Cape Coast (UCC).

The two-day event was held under the theme, “Kwame Nkrumah yesterday, today and tomorrow: Perspectives on constitutionalism, development and Pan-Africanism.”

Mr Pratt explained that the Seven-Year Development Plan was among the most ambitious efforts by a post-independence government to restructure Ghana’s colonial economic system and move the country towards greater economic independence.

He identified six major components of the plan: state-led industrialisation, economic diversification, agricultural modernisation, infrastructure development, investment in human capacity and the pursuit of an African economic agenda.

He said Dr Nkrumah understood that achieving political independence alone would not be enough if Ghana remained economically dependent on the export of raw materials and the importation of finished products.

Ghana’s economy at the time relied heavily on commodities such as cocoa, gold and timber, while many manufactured goods were imported into the country.

Mr Pratt argued that the pattern of exporting raw materials and importing finished products remains a challenge Ghana continues to confront.

He said Nkrumah therefore placed industrialisation at the centre of his development strategy, establishing state-owned enterprises across sectors including manufacturing, agriculture, transportation and hospitality.

Mr Pratt said another important element of the plan was the attempt to diversify Ghana’s economy and reduce its dependence on cocoa.

He explained that excessive reliance on cocoa left the country vulnerable to international commodity-price fluctuations, making economic diversification necessary to protect national revenues and create employment.

“Second was economic diversification. Ghana’s heavy dependence on cocoa exposed the country to fluctuations in world commodity prices. Industrialisation was intended to reduce this vulnerability, create employment and retain more value within the national economy,” he said.

He also stressed that Nkrumah did not regard agriculture and industrial development as competing priorities.

Instead, modern agriculture was expected to supply food, provide raw materials for factories, generate employment and contribute to export earnings.

On infrastructure, Mr Pratt pointed to some of the major projects undertaken under Nkrumah, including the Akosombo Dam and Volta River Project, Tema Harbour, road networks, electricity infrastructure, Tema Township and industrial estates.

He said these investments were intended to provide the basic infrastructure required for industrialisation and broader economic activity.

According to him, the projects reflected an understanding that sustainable economic development requires investments that can support productive activity over a long period.

Mr Pratt also highlighted education as a critical part of Nkrumah’s development agenda.

He said the government expanded access to primary, secondary, technical and university education in an effort to develop the skilled workforce required to manage and sustain Ghana’s emerging economy.

He said the history of the University of Cape Coast itself reflected this approach.

“This institution emerged from the determination to train the educators needed for Ghana’s expanding school system. It demonstrates that Nkrumah’s development strategy was not confined to factories and dams. It also invested in the human beings who would operate and sustain a modern society,” he stated.

Mr Pratt further linked the Seven-Year Plan to Nkrumah’s broader Pan-African vision.

He said Ghana’s economic transformation was not viewed in isolation but as part of a wider effort to promote economic cooperation and development across Africa.

“In furtherance of the Pan-African agenda, the Seven-Year Plan linked Ghana’s development to the wider economic advancement of Africa, seeking to reduce colonial dependency and build a productive continental economy,” Mr Pratt said.

While highlighting the achievements of the development programme, Mr Pratt acknowledged that it was also confronted by significant difficulties.

These included the decline in global cocoa prices, rising external debt, shortages, inflation and weaknesses within the state’s administrative and financial systems.

He argued, however, that these challenges should not be interpreted as evidence that national planning and industrialisation were fundamentally wrong.

“The correct lesson is not to abandon national planning or industrialisation, but to combine them with stronger management, accountability, technological competence, realistic sequencing and disciplined evaluation,” he said.

Mr Pratt also challenged claims that Dr Nkrumah inherited a strong, diversified economy but subsequently destroyed it during his time in office.

He argued that Ghana’s economy at independence was already largely dependent on the export of primary commodities and the importation of manufactured products.

“Nkrumah did not destroy a diversified, industrial and self-sufficient economy. He inherited a dependent commodity-export economy and attempted to transform it. That attempt produced major national assets,” he stressed.

For Mr Pratt, the experience of the Seven-Year Development Plan offers lessons for Ghana’s current economic challenges, particularly on the need for long-term planning, domestic production, human-capital development, industrialisation and investments capable of generating benefits beyond a single political
administration.

Source: CitiNewsroom