Akufo-Addo’s 1 million jobs non-existent – Minority

The Minority in Parliament has asked President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to show Ghanaians the jobs that have been created under his administration.

According to Ahmed Ibrahim, Member of Parliament for Banda, although the government has plans of creating jobs, those plans are yet to be implemented, and, so, the president cannot jubilate over non-existent jobs he claims he has created under his administration.

His comments come on the heels of claims by the Minister of Employment and Labour Relations, Ignatius Baffour-Awuah, to the effect that since coming into office in January 2017, the Akufo-Addo government has created over one million jobs in both private and public sectors.

Speaking at the launch of the Nation Builders Corps in Kumasi, Ashanti Region, on May Day, where the president launched the job creation intervention, Mr Baffour-Awuah said several interventions made by the Akufo-Addo government between January 2017 and March 2018, resulted in the creation of 1,096,404 jobs.

According to him, the number is minus the jobs created in the informal sector.

Launching NaBCO at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), President Nana Akufo-Addo said graduate unemployment in particular, and unemployment in general, have been a tragic part of the Ghanaian life.

He, however, said his government has introduced several initiatives including NABCO, in order to deal with the situation.

Mr Akufo-Addo noted that the programme will employ 100,000 youth this year.

He said: “The Nation Builders Corps will employ in this year alone 100,000 young men and women to assist in public service delivery in our country. The grave story of youth unemployment has been a tragic part of our lives for far too long in Ghana.

But speaking on Ghana Yensom on Wednesday, 2 May, Mr Ibrahim noted that the government is engaging in rhetoric as far as job creation is concerned.

“You are collapsing banks and other industries, yet you claim you are creating jobs; where are the jobs?

“The private sector is collapsing, banks are collapsing, next year government is going to introduce a lot of taxes, and, so, where is the incentive for businesses to thrive?”

He added: “Stop the rhetoric and bring numbers and the breakdown of the jobs you claim have been created.”