Mahama promises incentives to attract foreign investors to the North.

President John Dramani Mahama has reiterated his determination to tackle the stark geographic imbalance in Ghana’s development.

Speaking at the launch of the Ghana Infrastructure Plan (GIP) on Wednesday, October 22, under the auspices of the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC), the President outlined plans to offer targeted incentives to foreign investors who establish businesses in the northern regions. The move, he explained, is aimed at stimulating economic growth and narrowing the development gap between the North and the South.

The President noted that while Accra remains the most urbanized region, northern areas continue to trail in development, a situation that has contributed to growing migration to the capital.

“We must stop that geographical imbalance because every child finishing senior high school in the North, after a certain point in time, has no economic opportunity, no employment opportunities, and everybody is headed towards Accra. And that’s what he said. It just shows graphically what the imbalance is: every industry is in Accra, and all foreign direct investment is coming into Accra. Incentives that have been given to rebalance development have not been very effective. And we must find a way of making them more effective.

“And that’s where we are suggesting an Agro-Industrial Park in the Northern part of the country, where we redirect some of the foreign investors who want to invest and give them the necessary incentives, instead of settling in Accra, to move up to the North to create jobs so that the young people can have opportunities there and not drift down to the South,” he said.