Akufo-Addo prioritises youth transformation and empowerment - Bawumia

Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia says the Akufo-Addo led Government has prioritised youth transformation and empowerment among its policies and will continue to create conducive environment to improve their welfare.

To that end, he said, Government had secured US$ 200-million World Bank support to implement the Jobs and Skills Development programme, expected to be rolled out from now till the next five years, to improve the entrepreneurial skills and productivity of the Ghanaian youth.

He indicated that President Akufo-Addo had shown leadership over the past three-and-half years in office and fulfilled most of the 2016 electioneering promises.

However, Former President John Dramani Mahama, the National Democratic Congress flagbearer, failed to address the challenges facing the Ghanaian youth when he was in office, and yet continued to make promises.

"Promises are one thing and fulfilling them is another… action speaks louder than words," he added.

Vice President Bawumia made these remarks at a forum organised by the National Youth Wing of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in Accra on Wednesday.

Some high profile personalities that graced the occasion included Madam Akosua Frema Osei Opare, Chief of Staff, Freddie Blay, National Chairman of the NPP, and Samuel Awuku, the NPP’s National Organiser.

The forum coincided with the celebration of the International Youth Day held on August 12, to recognise the contributions of the youth towards national development to create awareness on their challenges with the ultimate objective of finding solutions to them.

The global theme for this year's celebration is "Youth Engagement for Global Action" with a local sub-theme; “Promoting Youth Engagement in Mitigating the Impact of COVID-19: The Need for Youth Innovation and Creativity".

Vice President Bawumia enumerated a number of initiatives rolled out by the Akufo-Addo Government to formalise the economy including the National Digital Property Addressing System, issuance of the National Identification Cards (Ghana Card), Mobile Money Interoperability Payment System, integration of the databases of the NIA and Births and Death Registry, and other state agencies for easy accessibility of information.

Also, government, through the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), had started processes to convert National ID numbers into Tax Identification Numbers (TIN) for easy payment of taxes and increase the number of taxpayers from the less than three million to 16 million.

Mr Freddie Blay, on his part, urged the youth not be distracted by the "propaganda promises" of the NDC's flag bearer, but should remain focused and campaign vigorously across the nook and cranny of the country to retain the Party in power.

"Leverage on your energies, strengths and creativity by adopting innovative campaign strategies to win more votes for the Party," he advised.

Madam Akosua Osei Frema Opare entreated them to remain united and fight with a common front to retain power in the general election.

She acknowledged the hard work and enormous contributions of the Youth Wing over the past years and urged them not to rest on their oars but work even harder in this year's electioneering.

Mr Sammy Awuk urged them to widen the one million vote margin recorded in the 2016 Presidential Election by winning more votes for the Party.

Alhaji Abdul Aziz Haruna Futah, the NASARA Coordinator, enumerated a number of projects initiated in the Zongo communities by government to improve livelihoods and urged those communities to show appreciation by voting massively for the NPP in the December polls.

Mr Henry Nana Boakye, the NPP National Youth Organizer, acknowledged the efforts of the Party's leadership and government's contributions towards their activities and enhancing capacity.

He, however, called for more support to enhance their work, especially by using social media platforms to reach out to the grassroots.

He gave the assurance that the Youth Wing would mobilise and leverage on innovative strategies to garner more votes for the Party.