Minority challenges government to account for jobs created

04 Nov Minority challenges government to account for jobs created

The Minority Leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, has challenged the government to account for its job-creation record, demanding details of the employment opportunities generated under its policies amid a reported youth unemployment rate of 32.4 per cent.

He said the government must demonstrate how its job-creation promises were translating into employment for young people, many of whom continued to face difficulties securing jobs.

Addressing the Leaders’ Media Briefing in Parliament yesterday the Minority Leader cited a recent report by the Ghana Statistical Service indicating that 32.4 per cent of young people between the ages of 15 and 24 were unemployed.

“Yet the question remains, where are their jobs?” he asked, insisting that the government must identify the institutions responsible for delivering its job-creation commitments.

“The government must answer where is the one job creation.

The government must tell us which institution is implementing one job creation,” he said.

He said the Minority would closely scrutinise the 2027 Budget to establish whether it contained clear commitments to job-creation targets and employment opportunities.

“An authority that comes with a promise must live by that promise,” he stated, stressing that the government should be held accountable for the employment assurances it made to Ghanaians.

The Minority Leader also questioned the government’s decision to discontinue the One District, One Factory (1D1F) programme, which he said had offered incentives to support local industrial development.

He argued that creating an enabling environment for businesses to expand was essential to generating jobs, but questioned the incentives available to private-sector operators under the current administration.

“Is there any policy for the private sector?

There are no incentives for raw materials and machinery.

There are no incentives for energy supply,” he said.

He said the government needed to explain how it intended to support businesses to grow and employ more people, particularly at a time when youth unemployment remained a major concern.

Probe GoldBod

In relation to the operations of the Ghana Gold Board (GoldBod), the Minority Leader demanded a full parliamentary investigation into discrepancies between the reported surplus recorded by GoldBod and losses reported by the Bank of Ghana (BoG) arising from gold transactions.

He said Ghanaians deserved to know where the losses were, who authorised the transactions that resulted in them and who would be held accountable

He argued that although GoldBod might be reporting a surplus, the corresponding losses recorded by the central bank raised serious questions about the management and accounting of the country’s gold trade.

“Ghanaians are entitled to know where the losses sit. Who authorised the transaction and who will answer for them?” he queried.

Mr Afenyo-Markin added that if GoldBod recorded a surplus while the Bank of Ghana recorded a loss on the same gold transactions, the financial loss could not simply disappear without an explanation.

Acceptance of motion

He expressed satisfaction that the Minority’s motion for a public inquiry into the matter had been approved by the Speaker of Parliament and announced on the floor of the House.

He was optimistic that the motion would be fully taken up when Parliament resumed, paving the way for the establishment of a committee to investigate the reported losses.

The caucus said the proposed inquiry should establish the circumstances surrounding the transactions, identify those responsible for authorising them and determine where the financial losses had accrued.

Source: Graphic.com