Page 136 - Afrika Must Unite

BUILDING SOCIALISM IN GHANA 121
the circumstances of our present retardedness, we must employ
all the forces at our disposal while we fashion others which will
accelerate our progress towards our goal.
G hana’s economy may be divided into five sectors. These a re :
(i) State enterprises; (2) enterprises owned by foreign private
interests; (3) enterprises jointly owned by State and foreign
private interests; (4) co-operatives; and (5) small-scale G hana­
ian private enterprise. The government has given recognition to
the activities of these different sectors, and has decided that in no
sector of the economy will exclusive rights of operation in respect
of any commodity be conferred on any single person. Private
small-scale personal enterprise, however, is reserved to
Ghanaians, in order to encourage and utilize personal initiative
and skill among our own people.
Naturally the operations of these different sectors have to be
taken into account in our calculations for planning our basic
economic reconstruction. We have to create in the quickest
possible time, without a hasty improvisation that will ultimately
defeat our objective, a diversified, many-sided economy able to
supply a growing population with the basic commodities that
will lessen the burden now imposed on the country by the need
to im port so many of its requirements. In order to increase our
material resources, we have, as a major priority, to raise
significantly agricultural productivity. This is a pre-condition
for our industrial growth, as all our plans can founder on a
countryside that does not contribute a rising quota of production.
There must be a transformation of our subsistence farms into
commodity producing farms, so that they may provide enough
food for our steadily rising population, give raw materials to feed
secondary industries and cash crops to help pay for our necessary
imports. Priority will be given to those investments which will
quickly promote capital formation; will save imports or increase
exports; and reduce the differences between the different
regions of the country created by colonialism.
O ur over-all plan will take account of our population and
their requirements, taking into consideration the yearly increase,
which is estimated at about three per cent. It will count our m an­
power and our actual and potential reservoir of skills, and will
set annual targets of achievement. These targets will embrace

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