The Akufo-Addo government is promising big again, this time through the Minister of Employment and Labor who claims the government has plans to create one million jobs by 2024.
According to Ignatius Barffuor Awuah, the Government is in the process of rolling out an Inter-Ministerial Initiative on Job Creation which will deliver the proposed one million jobs.
The initiative, he said will be powered by a Ghc1 billion investment and will coordinate job creation efforts across different sectors of the economy between now and 2024.
Mr. Baffour Awuah disclosed this on the floor of Parliament on Tuesday, November 2, 2021, in an answer to a question from the Member of Parliament for Domeabra/Obom, Sophia Karen Edem Ackuaku.
Hon. Ackuaku had asked, “What plans the Ministry has in terms of creating jobs for the youth and women in the Domeabra/Obom Constituency to enable them to support themselves and their families.”
The Minister had then answered saying, since 2017 to date, the government has been working assiduously to create various job opportunities for Ghanaians.
“As a result, a number of jobs have been created through the implementation of various government job creation interventions such as the: 1. Planting for Food and Jobs; 2. One District, One Factory Programme; 3. Nations’ Builders Corps (NABCO); 4. Youth Employment Programme under the YEA; and 5. National Entrepreneurship and Innovations Programme,” the Minister stated.
Interestingly, the programs he mentioned have all been engulfed in controversy in respect of claims that they are creating jobs with former President Mahama, whose Administration had started the Planting for Food and Jobs program pointing out that the program has largely not achieved the desired results as promised by the government.
Even so, Ignatius Baffour Awuah would have Parliament believe that the government has suddenly discovered some Midas touch on job creation, saying the new program will be officially unveiled in the 2022 budget.