Ghana witnessed decent economic growth in the last three decades of implementing neoliberal policy prescriptions. Indeed, this growth promoted it to a low middle income country in 2010. Paradoxically, the wellbeing of most Ghanaians in the subaltern classes has not improved significantly, and they still suffer grinding poverty. How to understand this paradox of growth without development? This paper argues that the failure of Ghana to diversify its economy into industrialization, particularly manufacturing, explains the paradox. With its relatively good politics and open economy, the Ghanaian state should spearhead industrialization, as South Korea and Malaysia did, by supporting selective manufacturing firms with capital, technology, and protective tariffs.