The Minister of Trade, Agribusiness and Industry (MOTAI), Elizabeth Ofosu-Adjare, has confirmed to Parliament that the One-District-One-Factory (1D1F), a flagship programme of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government, has been cancelled.
Along with the policy’s cancellation, she said there were currently no incentives under the programme.
“Mr Speaker, I want to draw the House’s attention to the fact that as of now, there is no policy as 1D1F,” she said in Parliament on Tuesday [July 8, 2025].
New game changer
Responding to questions on the floor of the House, Mrs Ofosu-Adjare said in the absence of 1D1F, the ministry had ventured into agro-processing parks under the 24-hour economy policy.
“The 24-hour economy policy is the new thing on the block and the game changer, which seeks to make Ghana very vibrant irrespective of the minute of the hour or the time of the day.
“We are doing agro-parks which seek to be a great game changer especially in the agro-processing zones and it is being worked on to ensure we are able to produce around the clock for import substitution, export, foreign exchange and to create jobs for our teeming youth,” she said.
Question
She made this known when she answered a question in the name of the Minority Leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, who asked the specific incentives and investment promotion packages being deployed to attract private sector investment, given the cancellation of the 1D1F.
He also asked what concrete measures the ministry was taking to de-risk the private sector investment in the industrial sector especially in less developed districts.
“Is the ministry MOTAI exploring the establishment of new industrial parks as part of revised investment attraction strategy?” he asked.
The immediate past NPP administration’s 1D1F initiative, which started in 2017 was aimed at changing the nature of Ghana’s economy from one that is dependent on the export of raw materials and the import of finished goods to one that is focused on manufacturing, value addition, and the export of processed goods.
Investment packages
Answering, the minister said the policy for the 24-hour economy that had all the investment packages and was under review would be brought to the House when it was complete.
She said MOTAI remained committed to all industries in Ghana and sought to create an enabling environment for their businesses to thrive.
She explained that under the policy of 24-hour economy, all other incentives were available for all industries to take advantage.
Transitional measures
On the question of if any component of projects under the 1D1F initiative had been integrated into the new 24-hour policy, Mrs Ofosu-Adjare answered in the affirmative.
She also responded to a question from by Majority Leader, Mahama Ayariga, who asked what transitional measures the ministry was thinking of in relation to the cancellation of 1D1F.
Mr Ayariga said Parliament approved taxes worth millions of dollars to various companies that operated under the 1D1F programme.
Answering, Mrs Ofosu-Adjare said MOTAI was in talks with stakeholders and was looking at the fallout from the cancellation of the 1D1F programme.
She said the cancellation of the 1D1F should not be attributed to her and the message of the cancellation of programme could be asked without recourse to her.
“Since I did not cancel the policy, I would not be in a position to give reasons why remedial measures were not given before the cancellation,” she said.
