Creation of 1 million jobs should not only be on paper

Managing Editor of The Custodian Newspaper, Awudu Mahama, has prompted the government to fulfill its promise of one million jobs for the country.

According to him, the promise should not only end on paper but should be visible for all to attest to the truthfulness of the promise.

He shared this opinion during an interview with Samuel Eshun on the Happy Morning Show.

“One million jobs may not be enough to reduce the unemployment rate in Ghana but if we are consistent, we may be able to reduce the employment rate in the country. But the issue is that these one million jobs should not be just on paper. Ghanaians are looking forward to programmes that will ensure the implementation of the one million jobs”, he said.

The editor noted that Parliament has the responsibility to check if promises from the executive are fulfilled as they [MPs] represent the people.

“In all the mid-year was great but the important thing is the implementation. The oversight of promises should be the work of parliament especially the Government Assurances Committee. if government promises A in three months, the assurances committee must follow up to determine whether it has been fulfilled. In that way the committee reports to Ghanaians for them to be informed”.

Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, during his presentation of the mid-year fiscal policy review to Parliament on Thursday, July 29, 2021, outlined government’s plans to create about 1 million jobs as part of a three-year strategy to address youth unemployment in the country .

He said: “I have had extensive discussions with my colleague Ministers of Employment and Labor Relations, Youth & Sports and Lands & Natural Resources. These conversations culminated in a comprehensive strategy to sustainably address youth unemployment. New programmes will be introduced and existing ones scaled-up and refocused to meet the aspirations of our youth.

“We will work together to sensitize and connect the youth to the numerous opportunities being made available by Government programmes, including a 3-year strategy to create job opportunities for 1 million Ghanaian youth. There are currently about 5 ongoing programmes through which we intend to create these jobs,” he said.