Finance Minister spoke ‘honest truth’ about payroll being full – Joe Jackson

Mr Joe Jackson, the director of strategy and business operations at Dalex Finance, has defended the Finance Minister’s advice to graduates from various tertiary institutions to find innovative ways of becoming entrepreneurs.

Speaking on the Big Issue, Mr. Jackson said this was a point he had made in the past.

“I can not fault the Finance Minister for saying something I said pre-Covid and Post-Covid… all he did was deviate from the standard politician platitudes to speak the honest truth.”

Mr. Ofori-Atta has faced stiff criticism for his comments, where he said graduates could not rely on the government for jobs.

Speaking at a graduation ceremony at the University of Professional Studies, Accra on October 18, Mr. Ofori-Atta explained that the payroll was full because 60 percent of Ghana’s revenue was spent on the payment of salaries of public sector workers.

Mr. Jackson agreed that this was unsustainable.

“Where in the world does this happen? You need a job but does it have to come from the government,” he asked.

He also stressed that “the government is broke and has been broke for a long time” and thus cannot be expected to pay more salaries.

Mr. Jackson, however, noted that the government needed to play its part in addressing unemployment by creating conditions conducive for business.

“Even as the Minister of Finance was talking about entrepreneurship, are the conditions right?… That is the issue you should take with him; do we have an enabling environment?”

—citinewsroom