President John Dramani Mahama has urged that Ghana’s industrial expansion deliver jobs, skills and business opportunities to Ghanaians, particularly people in host communities. He made the call at the groundbreaking for the Afienya Industrial Park in Greater Accra on Thursday, October 15, 2026.
President Mahama explained that the project’s significance for Afienya and surrounding communities will be measured by the work opportunities it creates for them, and he asked that those communities remain central to its development.
“I believe that if enterprises are located here, there should be a programme that trains the local people so that they can get some of the jobs that are created in this industrial park.”
President John Dramani Mahama
The President tied his proposal to the arrival of private investors. Once enterprises settle at Afienya, he argued, residents should not watch from the sidelines.
A training programme would give local people the skills that factories look for and a fair chance at the jobs on offer. His remarks placed skills development beside land, power and roads as part of the park’s foundations.
Small Businesses Must Join the Supply Chains
President Mahama looked beyond the factory gates. He stated that the opportunities created by the park should reach farmers, transport operators, local suppliers and small businesses, who “should be able to participate in the supply chains that serve their enterprises in the park.”
Jobs inside the enclave, in his view, represent only part of the benefit. Orders for raw materials, transport and services can carry the gains into surrounding households.
President Mahama pointed to households in communities whose livelihoods depend on the opportunities that existing industrial operations create, and he urged officials to build on that experience and learn from it.
New developments, he stated, must go further. He wants them to “provide reliable services, stronger links with local businesses and lasting benefits for those communities.”
Young Workers Show the Promise of Jobs
After the ceremony, President Mahama toured a nearby industrial complex and met young workers in yellow helmets. He noted the excitement of those who have secured jobs and observed that many young people have found work in the factories he visited.
He tied the visible job growth to the 24-hour economy policy, under which workers rotate across shifts. The sight, he indicated, shows why he wants the benefits of new industrial parks to reach local people from the first day of operation.
President Mahama drew attention to the role of women in the factories. Women make up a good percentage of the labour force in every plant he visited that morning, he disclosed, and in textiles and garments they exceed 90 percent of workers. Young women also hold their own in automobile and battery manufacturing, he added.
He opened his later remarks with a joke that two of his female appointees had kidnapped him for the tour, and he used the moment to make a point. They are showing him, he stated, that “what men can do, women can do even better.”
Government Sets a Clear Test
President Mahama assured entrepreneurs that Ghana will create the environment in which they can use the country as a hub.
He promised help so that textile exporters can be licensed under the African Continental Free Trade Area and supply the whole of West Africa and the wider continent. He then set the standard by which the public should judge the effort.
“The test of our efforts will be businesses operating, Ghanaians getting employment, and products reaching the wider African market.”
President John Dramani Mahama
The government has secured the site, he noted, and the private sector must now respond with investment. He prayed that the project would bring meaningful work to the people of Afienya and surrounding communities.
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