2020 election campaign must be on jobs - PPP

The Progressive People’s Party (PPP) has said that the 2020 election must be on the platform of jobs for Ghanaians.

It said such a debate would guide Ghanaians in selecting the next President in the December 2020 election who was capable of tackling the nagging unemployment situation in the country.

A statement signed by the National Secretary of the PPP, Paa Kow Ackon, said there was no doubt that the unemployment situation had worsened.

It said Ghanaians needed to decide which political party or politicians had worsened the unemployment situation in the country.

Job creations

The statement recalled that in 2012 and 2016, all political parties promised to create jobs because it was the most pressing need at the time in the lives of majority of the electorate.

“Eight years after those promises were made, the situation has become worse, and calls for an evaluation of how the various political parties have performed in solving the unemployment situation,” it noted.

The statement said the Presidential Candidate of the PPP in the 2012 and 2016 elections, Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom, had been acknowledged for creating permanent jobs, directly and indirectly in Ghana.

It said he was considered a “doer” by people from all walks of life due to his job creation.

Collapsed businesses

It said since the 2016 election however, Dr Nduom’s job creation machine had been shut down for political considerations.

The statement said prospective entrepreneurs who looked up to Dr Nduom had been denied the critical mentorship needed to achieve their dreams.

“The PPP hereby gives notice that the challenges that have been deliberately foisted on Groupe Nduom companies particularly GN Bank and Gold Coast Fund Management (GCFM), resulting in the loss of thousands of jobs, cannot and will not be ignored in the call to account for the increased unemployment situation in the country,” it stated.

That, it said, had added up to the unemployed graduates and jobless youth associations with dire consequences for the country’s economy, security and democracy.

Pledge

“We [PPP] stand by our promises in 2016, to “create jobs, use government’s purchasing power to ensure that we eat what we grow and use what we produce in Ghana,” it stated.

It said the party would improve Ghana’s business climate to enable investment in job creation so that Ghanaians would stay at home to help develop the country and its economy.

The statement reiterated the commitment of the party “to relentlessly provide support to Ghanaian industry and our farmers and fishermen using low interest loans, technical assistance, tax incentives and priority access to the Ghanaian market”.