Former President John Agyekum Kufuor has observed that decades of state dominance in industry effectively marginalised entrepreneurs and weakened the essential foundations of private sector growth.
Speaking at the inaugural Legacy Dialogue Series in Accra on Tuesday, 14 April 2026, he argued that Ghana’s post-independence model systematically sidelined private initiative, leading to severe long-term consequences for national development and employment.
The event, organised by the Design and Technology Institute, provided a platform for the former statesman to reflect on the historical shift away from individual enterprise. He noted that the early Ghanaian state assumed the role of the primary economic actor at the expense of the independent risk-taker.
“Gold Coast that became Ghana, insisted on the state taking the risk for growing industry and keeping the private sector. We took that risk taker out of growing our economy.”
Mr Kufuor explained that the resulting dominance of state-owned enterprises replaced genuine entrepreneurial drive with cumbersome bureaucracy, which limited innovation and constrained the natural expansion of businesses. This era of state-led industrialisation prioritised public institutions over the growth of a robust merchant class.
“So it was State Farm, state this, state that, leaving out the private sector.”
The former President further contended that this policy imbalance led to the collapse of early private businesses that might otherwise have anchored Ghana’s industrial base today. He suggested that a lack of appreciation for the synergy between the state and private ventures resulted in the erosion of existing wealth.
“They were all destroyed by the state because it seems like the state hadn’t appreciated the necessity for the private sector venture to cooperate with the state to generate wealth.”
He stressed that, this approach undermined the creation of sustainable prosperity, leaving the country without a resilient business class to weather economic shifts.
Using his administration adban example, he said his government made a deliberate effort to reverse this trajectory by restoring confidence in private enterprise and repositioning it as the engine of the economy.
“I thought I should emphasise the necessity to bring back business to usher in the golden age of business.”
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana