When Dr. James Tuffour speaks of “Beyond the Friday Wear,” policy, he is not only thinking about colourful shirts and local fabrics, but he is envisaging a national strategy that could address the menace of rural-urban migration in Ghana.
He believes the development of the country’s cotton industry as part of his call to revamp the Friday wear policy is a powerful tool for inclusion and economic transformation.
He envisions a Ghana where every school uniform, office attire, or corporate outfit proudly bears the mark “Made in Ghana.” In that vision, the Associate Professor at the School of Business at Burman University in Canada sees something much deeper.
He sees an opportunity to revive the country’s cotton industry and give a lifeline to thousands of young people, especially from the country’s northern regions, who continue to migrate southward in search of jobs that rarely exist.
For years, young women and men, mostly from the northern regions, have been boarding buses to southern cities like Accra and Kumasi in hopes of finding work. Many of them end up as head porters, known locally as kayayei, living in harsh conditions.
But Dr. Tuffour is asking, what if the jobs they seek were created closer to home?
That’s the opportunity Dr. Tuffour believes an expanded “Friday Wear” policy can bring. He argues that if government institutions, schools, and private companies are encouraged, or even required, to wear locally made fabrics beyond just Fridays, it would create a strong and steady demand for local textiles.
This, in turn, could spark a new wave of cotton farming and fabric production in Ghana’s north.
“We can also create opportunities for other vulnerable members of our society to benefit from this policy change. Can we also consider the cotton farmer who sits on a large parcel of idle land in the savannah? Creating this Beyond the Friday Wear market would mean that more money could be pushed into cotton farming to build local economies,” he remarked.
He added, “I’ve read recently about some success stories from our neighbours in the Republic of Benin, where the cotton industry has been revamped. Ghana has the advantage in this industry, too. We would be surprised to see the effect of revamping cotton production on the migration of vulnerable teenage girls from the North to Southern Ghana for jobs that do not exist. True, ‘Kayaye’ is driven by poverty; hence, bridging the economic inequality gap between urban and rural dwellers, for instance, would go a long way to correct many of our social crises.”
The ripple effect, he says, could be enormous. A stronger cotton sector means more work for farmers, ginners, weavers, tailors, and traders, many of whom live in rural areas.
For young women at risk of migrating to the south, these new opportunities could provide a dignified livelihood within their own communities.
Dr. Tuffour further envisions a future where physically challenged artisans and students in vocational and technical schools also benefit. He believes that by channeling funds into local textile production instead of imports, Ghana could not only save foreign exchange but also empower its people through meaningful work.
