Financial clearance given for the creation of 145,000 jobs – Oppong Nkrumah

Information Minister-designate, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah has disclosed that financial clearance has been given for the creation of over 100,000 jobs by the Akufo-Addo-led government in the last three months.

According to him, government has made significant stride in addressing the country’s unemployment challenges by rolling out policies that will permanently resolve the menace by giving the Finance Ministry the clearance to hire these numbers.

Speaking on Monday’s edition of PM Express on JoyNews TV, Oppong Nkrumah gave a breakdown of the sectors where government has created the 145,000 jobs over the last three months.

He revealed that about 100,000 NABCO personnel are expected to be inaugurated this October; 20,000 people have been employed under afforestation module; over 1,049 for local government; 2,700 agric extension officers; 3527 security personnel; 4000 police recruits of which financial clearance has been given; 9,572 educational workers were employed under the implementation of the double track system and about 24,033 health workers have also been employed.

Reiterating his stance on jobs created by the current government in the last three months, Oppong Nkrumah said, although majority of Ghanaians still complain of unemployment and hardship, it would be unwise to say the government has done nothing.

According to him, President Akufo-Addo is committed to dealing with the menace, indicating that it will take time for it to manifest.

Meanwhile a ranking Member of Parliament’s Finance Committee, Cassiel Ato Forson has alleged that over 100,000 job losses have been reported in the last 18 months of the Akufo-Addo government.

Rejecting claims by Oppong Nkrumah that more jobs have been created as a result of strong macroeconomic fundamentals, Ato Forson said Ghanaians are experiencing more hardship than they did under the previous government.

He believes the current economic crisis is due to the mismanagement and poor policies being implemented by government which have subsequently led to the collapse of banks and other businesses.