By: Dr. James Tuffour
In the early 1990s, at my Cultural Studies class, I did learn a popular definition of ‘culture’. I remember vividly, Teacher Adolf taught us that ‘culture is the way a group of people live’. Indeed, as a people, our identity is in the food we eat and the clothes we wear. Also, we’re identified by our language, music and dance, festivals, and even names. Unfortunately, colonisation and its awful carcasses of neo-colonialism attempt to despise and demean all these cherished assets.
If you belong to the school of International Trade, you might not blame the changing paradigm of [our] culture on colonialism, rather, on inter-cultural inclusivity. This ‘cultural shift’ is recognised by others as ‘multiple identities’, where one views themselves through numerous social categories. However, this so-called cultural shift brings about a tsunami when instead of our other (borrowed) cultures becoming a blend, override our core identity as a people. It appears this is the ongoing experience of many Ghanaians (and to a large extent, Africans) because we have buried our own ways of living by substituting our traditions with foreign cultures.
I’ve written somewhere that more value must be added to our local produce before their export. By so doing, we can liberate ourselves from the financial stresses that our economy (and indeed, many other African countries) faces. Yes, by processing our exports to finished or semi-finished goods, we can boost local employment, and earn extra income.
Over the years, the Government of Ghana has struggled to restructure our economic base from import dependency to one that is driven by exports. Debatably, in the few years that we have had balance of payment surpluses (i.e., income from exports in excess of import spendings), a chunk of the savings did not belong to ‘local actors’. For example, the mines give us a lot of money, however, the dominant actors are multi-national corporations from abroad. Consequently, a chunk of the money received by this industry ends up in the pockets of the so-called foreign investors, often, remnants of colonisation.
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Again, developing the taste for goods produced locally may sustain our local and national economies. About two decades ago, we had a fascinating slogan for one of our Farmers’ Day celebrations: ‘Eat what you can and can what you cannot’. Such initiatives are aimed at driving patronage for local produce. I must admit that even though some successes have been chalked in developing a taste for local goods, there is more room for improvement. Sometimes, improvement could be made without necessarily dedicating huge sums of money. Yes, government initiatives could bring about behavioural changes with little spending.
This piece is calling for improvement that will protect local industries, and even create new jobs for our teeming youths. I submit here, a less expensive initiative/proposal that will contribute to reducing the pressure placed on the Ghanaian currency, that often leads to her depreciation against major trading currencies.
Look, it’s been some two decades or so when the Government of Ghana launched the ‘National Friday Wear Initiative’. Debatably, students of sociology and political science might see this policy as a good attempt to decolonise corporate Ghana. For those of us in economics and business development, we assess how the economy benefits from the so-called decolonisation efforts. Yes, we see the empowerment of the local textiles industry and small businesses in the value chain.
This important industry nearly died some three decades ago. I must confess that it is not out of the woods yet; Keen competition, especially, from the global world is choking the existence of our textiles industry. For example, China’s ability to produce in large quantities is yielding her the benefits of economies of scale, that are passed onto consumers. For our local industry to rub shoulders with their peers abroad, we must intentionally create a big market so that it can benefit from economies of scale. My proposal is not for the government to recapitalise the operators in this industry. Yes, financial access could give some comfort but the real game changer is market access.
Revisiting the Friday Wear policy, the time has come for us to look into this project again. I refer to the new call as ‘Beyond the Friday Wear’. There must be a deliberate policy to extend the Friday Wear policy to Thursdays. Yes, we must embrace a ‘Wear-Thursday-Friday-Ghana’. Thus, local prints must be worn on Thursdays, too. To make the point clearer, corporate Ghana must embrace the wearing of our beautiful prints on another day apart from Fridays. In fact, this must not end on these two days. Rather, after we’ve built enough production capacity, perhaps, only one day should be left for the so-called corporate (colonised) attire. By this, we decolonise the business environment, embrace our cultural pride, and build the fragile economy.
The value of this Beyond the Friday Wear cannot be underestimated. Not just large-scale textile producers will benefit from the policy. Instead, the numerous small-scale operators, merchants, tailors and seamstresses, fashion designers, and other players in the value chain may sustain and grow their businesses. We can also create opportunities for other vulnerable members of our society to benefit from this policy change. One that comes on mind quickly is the physically challenged. Just imagine, government creating the market for this group to produce batik tie and dye for school children? Why must we even use scarce foreign exchange to import school uniforms when our trainees at vocational and technical schools, polytechnics, and technical universities can be equipped to produce them? The scarce foreign exchange could be used by those training institutions for expansion, and more importantly, the new opportunities serve as good learning platforms.
Can we also consider the cotton farmer that 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. 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.
Over the years, we have pumped (and continue to do more) millions of dollars into poverty alleviation programs, yet, there’s not much to present as success. We should not be surprised about the ‘chronic poverty’ in our communities because development studies experts keep arguing that handouts are not the best antidote for wealth creation. These poverty alleviation programs must empower beneficiaries to create wealth instead of pushing bread and butter under their throats. Effective ways of doing this include equipping the youths with modern farming skills, and to give access to market through a policy like the Beyond Friday Wear. These actions will lead to real poverty alleviation that protects the dignity of vulnerable people, and secure our sustainable development.
I must reiterate that restructuring our economy will sustain our development. Interestingly, some of the initiatives needed for this longstanding aspiration for economic restructuring do not necessarily come with huge governmental financial commitments. They require a deliberate attempt to redirect our behaviour to consuming locally-made products. The introduction of Beyond Friday Wear will create the market for our textiles industry. The initiative will contribute to solving the unemployment challenges we face, and help in decolonising corporate Ghana. In the long-run, our wobbling economy would be on the right trajectory to sustainable development.
The writer is an Associate Professor at the School of Business at Burman University, Canada
