On Monday, February 20th, 2023, the Trade and Industry Ministerial nominee, Mr. Kobina Tahiru Hammond, appeared before the Appointed Committee for vetting the newly nominated Ministers. During his appearance, he made some thought-provoking comments that left some of the members of the committee in shock.
K. T. Hammond, who is the Member of Parliament (M.P) for Adansi-Asokwa constituency in the Ashanti Region, emphasized that leaving the affairs of Ghana in the hands of young people alone with the older generation being relegated to the background completely will be a suicidal thing to do. He stated that the older generation brings rich experiences and knowledge that can mentor and guide the younger generation towards achieving the development agenda of the country.
During his appearance, he also expressed his concerns about the rate at which Ghana imports some basic goods. “ We are importing guts, bladders, stomach of animals to Ghana to complement our foods. And that alone totaled about $164,575,000. I thought this is a little bit of a scandal,” he said. K.T. Hammond referred to this as a little bit of a scandal and expressed his displeasure with the impact it has on the country’s foreign exchange reserves. He noted that a committee was set up by the cabinet to deal specifically with this issue and emphasized the importance of taking a serious look at this matter.
KT Hammond was of the opinion that “these importations have terrible effects on our foreign exchange reserves. I think it’s about time we took a serious look at this particular issue. I’m told a committee was put up by cabinet to deal specifically with this matter.” He expressed his unhappiness that products such as tripe found their way into the country and urged the government to prioritize the growth of the country’s own products instead of relying solely on imports.
