Election hopeful has leather plans
28/04/2008
Ghanaian electoral candidate Professor John Evans Atta Mills has unveiled plans for boosting the country's industrial output, with leather featuring in his blueprint.
Professor Atta Mills, a former vice-president, has said he would boost the leather industry in the African country by removing import duty on raw materials in areas outside a select number of duty-free zones.
He said in a speech to the Association of Ghana Industries in the capital Accra at the end of April: “I have been struck by the fact that while the local industry is required to pay import duty on raw materials, there are free zone operators that do not have to pay such duty and are able to sell 30% of their products on the local market. I will therefore allow for duty-free importation of raw materials and for any taxes to be paid after production, just as in the case of the free zones.”
If successful in December's elections, he pledged to untap the industrial potential of every district and singled out Bolgatanga, a district in the far north of Ghana, close to the border with Burkina Faso, as a future centre of excellence in leather. Tanneries are already in operation in Bolgatanga and the area has a reputation for crafts.
“Industrial growth is imperative,” the professor said. “We cannot continue to export primary products whilst importing the bulk of the manufactured products our nation needs. It is the value addition in the production chain that generates new jobs for our growing population.”
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