NPP Decries Govt's Employment Programme

The opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) has derided the new National Employment Policy (NEP) recently unveiled by President John Mahama, saying it would not help to tackle the high unemployment rate in the country.

Nana Akomea, Communications Director of NPP, made this known last Friday in Accra at a public lecture organized by the Tertiary Education Students' Confederacy (TESCON) at the Accra City Campus of the University of Ghana (UG).

Themed: 'Reviving the spirit of political participation - A guarantee for power in 2016,' the event was geared towards rekindling the spirit of the students.

According to Nana Akomea, the NEP lacked a comprehensive action plan to ensure its successful implementation.

'Every policy should come with an action plan that shows how it is going to be implemented. It is the action plan that shows by what finances the plan is going to be carried out and over what time. What is the Ministry of Agriculture going to do and by what time?' he noted.

'But the policy doesn't have any action plan to tell how it is going to be implemented,' Mr. Akomea argued.

Government's position
NEP, according to government, seeks to help create gainful and decent jobs for the growing labour force to improve their living condition and contribute to economic growth and national development to ensure fairness, security and dignity.

President John Dramani Mahama launched the NEP recently in Accra during the 2015 National Jobs Summit.

According to Mr. Akomea, before the NPP left office in 2008, it had completed a comprehensive national employment policy together with its implementation plan.

He wondered why government had refused to use the NPP employment plan which sought to radically tackle the nation's unemployment crisis once and for all but had rather adopted a new policy that lacked action plans.

'Dumsor'
In an interview with BUSINESS GUIDE, he urged government to find a lasting solution to the current power crisis negatively affecting the country.

'The biggest problem now for even those who have jobs is the 'dumsor.' I mean, in the last three months, 12,000 workers lost their jobs according to AGI.

'So let government get the power challenges solved. If you are able to solve that during the World Cup matches and the Christmas period, that means you know how to solve it.'

He attributed the challenges facing the country to misplaced priorities of the government.

BY Melvin Tarlue