FROM 1.5 MILLION CREATED JOBS TO CREATE JOBS FOR YOURSELVES?

Unemployment is a political landmine political parties in Ghana will like to watch their foot steps carefully in order not to step on it to cause a dangerous explosion for it government to fail.

However during electioneering campaigns, it is the number one issue all the political parties chose as their campaign message promising to create jobs for the unemployed you when elected into power.

From 2008 through to 2012 general elections, the New Patriotic Party [NPP] presidential candidate, Nana Ado Dankwa Akuffo Addo, has been promising that when elected into power; his administration will create jobs for the teeming masses of unemployed Ghanaians.

The jobs Nana Addo explained would be created through public investments, especially in the areas of agricultural development as well as the provision of active support for the growth of the private sector, which will in turn create jobs for Ghanaians.

Fifteen [15] months after the late president John Evans Atta Mills government has taken office after the 2008 general elections, one of his deputy ministers made a statement on job creation which was a fallacy.

Deputy Minister for information under President John Evans Atta Mills administration, James Agyenim Boateng, made a statement that the government in its 15 months administration was able to create 1.5 million jobs for the unemployed.

The opposition NPP and other political parties challenged the authenticity of the figures describing it as a fallacy since it was not coming from the rightful sources such as the Ghana Statistical Service [GSS], Ghana Labour Commission [GLC] and of course the Trade Union Congress [TUG].

Even I, an ordinary Ghanaian in an article titled,” INFORMATIO MINISTER OR PROPAGANDA MINISTER”, was able to challenge the minister on his claim that his government was able to create 1.5 million jobs within fifteen months in office.

My explanation was that, no matter how a country was described in economic terms, self employment rise substantially when it faces economic recession at one point of its progress.

Every one knows that recently America and Canada, experienced hard economic recession which saw most of the manufacturing industries that provides jobs for millions of residents in the countries closed down or laid most of its workers off or better still relocated else where outside North America which created huge unemployment.

Though the economy is picking up, authentic sources in Canada confirms that self employment rose substantially during the recent economic downtown whiles paid employment including government and private enterprises went down.

I made it clear that even in Canada where most of the world giant industries owned by American companies, Statistics Canada, reported that self employment increased by more than hundred thousand [100,000] or 4.3 percent between October 2008 and October 2009 whiles paid employment fell by four hundred and eighty thousand [480,000] or 3.3 percent.

According to Statistics Canada, the decline in paid employment largely predated the increase in self employment raising the possibility that a large portion of the newly self employed could have been paid employees who lost their jobs early in the recession.

It further said 28 percent of the laid off paid employees came from manufacturing industries whiles many newly self employed were in services.

Therefore with these facts and figures from authentic sources no one could challenge it as compared to that propaganda talk by Agyenim Boateng as he could not substantiate the 1.5 million jobs he claimed the Atta Mills government created within fifteen months in power.

Under President John Mahamah's government, an offshoot of President Atta Mills government, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, deputy minister for education who served in the previous government as deputy minister for information, is now telling the teeming mass unemployed to create jobs for themselves?

Now it is clear that when it comes to tackling unemployment of the masses, the NDC government has no idea as to how best to solve the situation as you can see from the constant change of tongue from the president all the way to his ministers.

From 1.5 million jobs created within fifteen months in government to create jobs for yourself? May be the government wants to eat its humble pie this time round.