Ken Kuranchie challenges Mahama to come clear on one million jobs promise

Kenneth Agyei Kuranchie, a former newspaper editor, has called on the flagbearer of the opposition National Democratic Congress to come clear on his promise of creating one million jobs for Ghanaians.

According to Kuranchie, this is “a miracle” by John Dramani Mahama that requires greater clarification because since the world started experiencing the Coronavirus pandemic in December 2019, about “81% of the global workforce of 3.3 billion people have had their workplace fully or partly closed”.

In a statement to GhanaWeb, Ken Kuranchie said: “The world is now faced with ‘Covidconomy’, and economists around the world are grappling with how to keep local economies running, and how to get economies back on an even keel, when Coronavirus eventually retreats, at a time when there is no clear indication of when this pandemic would be overcome.

“…there is ‘covidphobia’ where human beings are being taught that it is wise to stay away from other human beings and to actively block other human beings from coming close to them. It is trite fact that economies thrive through trade, interaction and contact, and yet the popular thought is that it is safer and wise to teach ‘covidphobia’ so that the human race can survive.”

John Dramani Mahama during the formal announcement of his running mate in Accra recently said: “Our [NDC] plans include an aggressive job and entrepreneurial programme in the public and private sector; that will deliver a minimum of 250,000 jobs every year. A total of 1,000,000 jobs across the country by the end of my term in office in 2024. We will put Ghanaians to work to earn a decent living.”

He added that the first term of President Nana Akufo-Addo's administration has been full of massive job losses.

In response, the journalist, who is also the founder of Swift Institute for Public Policy Options, explained that for an opposition leader to have such a great vision to create a million jobs in Ghana’s ‘covidconomy’ and against the backdrop of ‘covidphobia’, “we believe that his statement is bold, but we remain to be convinced as to how feasible the proposal would be”.

Kenneth Kuranchie called on John Mahama to “put forward and into the public domain the policy initiatives that he intends to depend on as the fulcrum to push forward his agenda to create a million sustainable jobs in four years, with ‘covidconomy’ and ‘covidphobia’ in mind”.

Read below his full statement.