What was your employment record? - Collins Adomako-Mensah quizzes Mahama over job promises

Collins Adomako-Mensah, the Member of Parliament for Afigya Kwabre North, has urged the youth of the country not to be swayed by the lofty promises of John Dramani Mahama, the flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress.

Speaking as a panellist on Metro TV's Good Morning Ghana show, Collins Adomako-Mensah urged Ghanaians to assess the record of John Mahama as President before deciding to vote for him.

In the area of job creation, the Deputy Minister of Energy noted that John Mahama performed below par as president and therefore cannot be trusted to follow through with his promise of creating jobs.

“John Mahama’s problem is that he has been a president before, and so anytime he makes a promise of increasing jobs for the youth, the question will be, what was his record with youth employment when he was in power?” Adomako-Mensah said.

“This government, within a space of 7 years, has added more than 6,000 to the prisons service…these are the records of both political parties, and I am sure the Ghanaian youth is listening and watching,” the Afigya North MP stressed.

He concluded by asking, “Between the two political parties, which of them will you be comfortable with in terms of youth employment?”

John Mahama, who is gunning to be president for the second time, has been trumpeting job creation as part of his campaign.

Speaking at a stakeholders’ engagement in Fumbisi, John Mahama emphasized that addressing the high rate of youth unemployment is crucial for the country’s development.

“Jobs, jobs, jobs must be the priority for everybody, and that is the priority for the next NDC government. Like I said, we’ll do infrastructure, but we are going to concentrate on the things that will create jobs for our young people. That’s why one of the policies we are introducing is the 24-hour economy. It’s a very simple thing.”

“There are businesses all over Ghana, and there are new businesses that are going to come. We are asking that those businesses work longer than the usual eight-hour day, thus working from eight o’clock in the morning to five o’clock in the evening.”

“It’s happening in other places. They have the 24-hour economy programme where they give incentives to businesses to work for longer hours. If you work for longer hours, you cannot work with the same number of people for 16 hours or 24 hours.

“You have to add on additional labour, so if you have a pharmaceutical factory and you’re producing drugs, first, the government will incentivize you by buying your drugs because we have a need.”

Meanwhile, GhanaWeb is set to premiere a documentary on playwright Uncle Ebo Whyte on Monday, August 19, 2024. Watch the trailer below:





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