We would have recruited more people if economy had not slumped under Mahama – Oppong Nkrumah

Had it not be that various sectors of the economy had gone through the roof under the Mahama-led administration, the Akufo-Addo-led government would have given employment to a lot more Ghanaians, Information Minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah has said.

He said the Akufo-Addo government has over the years “recovered” the economy which “slumped” under the previous government to a “phenomenal” state.

Speaking to Stephen Anti on TV3’s The Key Points, Saturday, May 23, 2020, he said: “Every observer, every economist, every journalist who goes through the data certainly knows that Ghana’s economy took a major slump under Mr. Mahama.

“Growth dwindled, our microphysical situation was thrown out of the water, we resorted to unbridled spending, deficit went through the roof, our debt sustainability went through the roof as well.”

Mr. Oppong Nkrumah hyped the employment credentials of the government, adding that even “income today has greater value than Mahama’s era”.

The minister talked about the over 80,000 health personnel recruited by the government as at the end of 2019, recruitment into the security services and the about 100,000 jobs provided under NABCO among others.

“In the area of jobs we have certainly done better than the previous administration,” he touted, but was quick to indicate that there are a number of people who still needed job.

“Take the situation of the nurses, not every person who has graduated from nursing training college has been recruited, not every person has been recruited, we wish that we did not have to inherit an economy like what we did. Because if we inherited a better economy we would be in a position to recruit a lot more people,” he claimed.

However, Oppong Nkrumah could not tell the number of jobs created by the Akufo-Addo-led government since it took over power in January 2017, despite claiming the figures have been mentioned at various occasions.

“The minister responsible for employment, as I mentioned, I think some of our upcoming virtual town hall meetings, would update us some of those numbers,” the Information Minister assured.