How does giving young people mobile phones on credit address youth unemployment? – Adongo asks

Member of Parliament, MP for Bolgatanga Central, and Ranking Member on the Finance Committee of Parliament, Isaac Adongo, has described the government of President Nana Akufo-Addo as visionless and clueless, especially in addressing youth unemployment in the country.

During the debate on the Mid-Year Budget Review, Mr. Adongo criticized the government for failing to tackle escalating youth unemployment. He accused the government of deliberately impoverishing the youth through unemployment to buy their votes cheaply.

"You move youth unemployment from 8% to 14%. And all you can tell the unemployed youth who are looking up to you to create jobs for them, to tell them how they get their next meal. What you tell them is you will give them mobile phones so that every month, they’ll pay one Cedi, two Cedis. How will that create a solution to the unemployment situation? This is a visionless government. They intentionally created this unemployment for our youth so they could pay them for election purposes," he said.

On Tuesday, July 23, 2024, Minister of Finance Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam presented the Mid-year Budget Review to Parliament. Among other things, he noted that the economy was growing at 4.7% due to the prudent policies of the government.

He also announced the reintroduction of road and bridge tolls to increase government revenue and that the government had spent GH¢9.9 billion on its flagship Free Senior High School (FSHS) policy.

He emphasized that the economy was resilient and rebounding quickly. However, the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) said the presentation offered no hope to the ordinary Ghanaian.