President John Mahama’s promise to create 3 million jobs in his second term if he wins the December 7 elections is a panic reaction to the wind of change that is blowing ahead of the elections, Mr Titus Glover, Member of Parliament for Tema East, has said.
According to him, Mr Mahama is sensing defeat ahead of the elections, and, therefore, feels the need to make promises to hoodwink the electorate to vote for him.
President Mahama said on his website that: “Together with a new NDC Government, I will deliver the most ambitious job creation plan for our country. We will implement the Economic Transformation and Livelihood Empowerment Programme (ETLEP), an Initiative that will generate at least three million direct and indirect jobs.”
He listed seven policies that will help in that regard:
• We will increase funding to the Youth Enterprise Support (YES) Initiative from GH¢10 million to GH¢100 million, which means GH¢25 million a year;
• We will create more IT Enabled Service jobs through the completion of the Ghana – Mauritius Technology Park Project among others;
• We will strengthen and expand the operations of the Microfinance and Small Loans Centre (MASLOC) to create over three hundred thousand (300,000) jobs;
• We will vigorously pursue the Integrated Aluminum Industry Project, which is anchored on the oil and gas industry;
• We will rejuvenate Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah’s era factories such as the Asutuare Sugar Factory among others;
• The next NDC Government will employ over 300,000 unskilled people in public works, so that even people with no qualification could get a chance to contribute to our country’s growth and
• The next NDC Government will expand the YEA job creation opportunities from the current 100,000 to 400,000, so that the youth could get more opportunities to work;
Speaking in an interview with Chief Jerry Forson, host of Ghana Yensom on Accra100.5FM on Thursday October 27, Mr Glover said: “Trainee teachers have no jobs to do, those who are already teaching are not being paid, and so what is President Mahama talking about? He is talking out of frustration; he is making political talk. The change that we need should definitely come.
“Because the NDC government is not supporting the private sector, the private sector is struggling. The excessive taxes – energy levy, water levy, duties – the private sector is paying is so serious. That is why the NPP’s manifesto is a solution to these problems, solutions that will help the private sector to create jobs. We (NPP) are saying that any productive area, in fact the raw materials imported into the productive areas, we will remove the taxes on them. Secondly, every job that will absorb the graduates is going to be given tax incentives. These are all solutions to solve the problems of unemployment, not what President Mahama is saying?
“All he is doing is panic reaction to the change that is coming in the elections, and, so, he feels he has to make more promises. He has no solutions to the problems of this country. A vote for President Mahama and the NDC is doom for this country. President Mahama is a threat to this country because he has no solutions to the problems of this country.”
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