Full text: NPP’s seventh ‘Youth Must Know’ Statement

THE YOUTH MUST KNOW SERIES BY THE NATIONAL YOUTH WING OF THE NPP (THE 7TH EDITION)

 

Introduction:

 

President Akufo-Addo elected as ECOWAS Chairman 

 

Ladies and Gentlemen, I would like to start by congratulating the President of the Republic, Nana Akufo-Addo, for the honour he has brought to Ghana’s name. This is in respect of his having been elected as the Chairman of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) on Monday 8th September, 2020. Undoubtedly, President Akufo-Addo’s sterling performance in the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, his enviable track record as a democrat and his delivery on the international stage have culminated in him having attained this great position. We all wish him well in this role, knowing full well that he will enhance the position.

 

Having said that, we now turn our attention to the series of unfortunate and irresponsible comments made by the NDC’s presidential candidate, Mr. John Dramani Mahama. The so-called communications expert that Mr Mahama is believed to be, he has used Facebook

to disrespect all Akyems by referring to them as “Akyem Sakawa Boys.” This demeaning and ethnocentric comment by a Former President who ought to act as a statesman is very shameful, divisive, dangerous and must be condemned unreservedly by all discerning citizens. In campaigning in the North recently, Mr Mahama–through a very distasteful analogy–could only wish the president dead and hence used it as the rationale for which Ghanaians should vote for him.

 

Every Ghanaian should be concerned about a former President who engages in tribal bigotry, ethnocentrism and divisive politics. To elevate our political discourse, we would like to use this occasion to highlight the tremendous achievements of Akufo Addo’s three and a half years in government as compared to the NDC’s eight. Then, we will also explore the manifestos of the NPP and that of the NDC which is full of plagiarised ideas.

 

NPP’s Youth-related Achievements in Three and a Half Years

 

Ladies and gentlemen, in our 5th Edition of the Youth, Must Know series in Kumasi, we listed 60 beneficial youth-related achievements of the NPP. It was in the same press conference in which we challenged the NDC to inform all Ghanaians about their youth-related achievements during their eight-year stay in power. Bereft of ideas as always, they have shown that they did nothing for the youth and hence have not been able to accept this noble challenge.

 

Since the Akufo-Addo government has performed exceptionally in this area, let us look ahead at the life-changing youth-related policies captured in the NPP 2020 Manifesto by accentuating a few of these achievements so far chalked by the government:

1. Job Creation 

 

The NPP has created over two million jobs in three and a half years (2,055,010). These include:

 

• Public Sector – 778,706
• Formal Private Sector – 267,939
• Government Job-Creation Programmes – 1,008,365

 

The Government programmes through which jobs were created are:

 

Planting for Food and Jobs (Annual Average):              762,300 

• Nation Builders Corps:                                               100,000
• National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Plan (NEIP):  92,000
• National Identification Authority: 35,380
• Out-grower Value Chain Fund (OVCF) (Annual Average): 7,254 
• Ghana Commercial Agriculture Project (Annual Average): 11,431 

 

2. Education

 

• The universally-acclaimed Free SHS and TVET Education have seen 1.2 million beneficiaries. The government has absorbed registration fees for children sitting the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) from both public (391,318) and private (397,500) Junior High Schools in 2020. The difference this makes to both parents and their wards cannot be overemphasized! In addition, the government has also paid Ghc75 million as examination fees for 313,838 students sitting the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE).

 

• The government has been supplying free learning materials to boost the Free SHS initiative. Apart from core textbooks, notebooks, exercise books, supplementary readers, technical drawing equipment, students are also given Physical Education kits, uniforms, house-cloth, and house-dresses for free since 2017.

 

• Unrivalled infrastructural projects in SHS and Basic Schools – 1,200 infrastructural projects in SHS and 557 at the basic school level. This development also encompasses libraries– the construction of 2 libraries and renovation of 10 existing libraries, including the Accra Central, Asokore and Hohoe libraries. The construction and establishment of ten (10) Training Centres of Excellence for the Council for Technical, Vocational Education and Training (COTVET).

 

• Restoration of Teacher Trainees Allowance to 48,000 teacher trainees which cost Ghc 357 million in the 2020 fiscal year alone, restoration of Nursing Trainees Allowance to 49,000 nursing trainees which also cost Ghc336 million in the 2020 fiscal year.

 

• Youth scholarships for over 30,000 brilliant and needy students via the District Level Scholarship Scheme in 2019, alone, projected to be over 60,000 students in 2020.

 

There are other achievements that time will not permit us to enumerate here like the over 20,000 students trained under the Student Entrepreneurial Initiative rolled out by NEIP the abolition of three months Salary Pay Policy and the disbursement of Ghc52.6 million to SHSs and technical institutions for academic interventions and teacher motivation.

 

A Tale of the Two Manifestos

 

Fellow Youth, the NPP manifesto launched under the theme Leadership of Service: Protecting our Progress, Transforming Ghana for All has at its core myriads of impactful youth-oriented policies. The youth-friendly manifesto has inherent policies that would accelerate job creation, poverty reduction, promote social mobility and shared prosperity.

 

Highlights of the manifesto are:

• The establishment of a Ghc2 billion Guarantee Facility to support all large enterprises and for job retention. This will enable businesses to borrow from banks at affordable rates and over long tenors to adjust to the pandemic and to retain jobs.

 

• Setting up a Ghc100 million Fund for Labour and Faith-Based Organisations for retraining and skills development (Retraining Programme).

 

• Establishing an Unemployment Insurance Scheme to provide temporary income support to workers who are laid off due to the pandemic.

 

• Promoting food security and job creation by intensifying support to the “Planting for Food and Jobs” and “Rearing for Food and Jobs” programmes.

 

• Implementing a range of employment retention & support services to large enterprises, including clearing contractor arrears, quick payment of new contractors and increasing government procurement for local businesses (e.g. PPEs, pharmaceuticals for the health sector, and other supplies).

 

• Reviewing and optimising the implementation of government flagship policies such as 1D1F, PFJ, and Free SHS that depend on the Government’s budget finance for greater results, value-for-money and fiscal sustainability.

 

• Building Ghana’s light manufacturing sector, including our capabilities to manufacture machinery to support our industrialization bid.

 

•  Finalising the establishment of the bauxite refinery to complete the aluminium value chain and the establishment of an iron and steel industry through the Ghana Integrated Iron and Steel Development Corporation (GIISDEC).

 

• Deepen the Automotive Assembly industry which will also help create jobs.

 

• Complete the process of establishing a fertiliser producing plant in Ghana and the implementation of the Greenhouse Village Concept, focusing especially on the youth.

 

• Continue to increase the manpower resources and teaching facilities, including the use of ICT teaching aids, of public tertiary institutions to support the expected increases in student population from the Free SHS graduates.

 

• Guarantor-free access to students loan and defer repayment of the loan after National Service plus an additional one-year grace period.

 

• Complete the provision of free Wifi at all senior secondary schools and public tertiary institutions and training colleges.

 

• Construction of 101 standard design 100-bed hospitals with accommodation for doctors and nurses in the Districts without hospitals.

 

• Construction of 6 new regional hospitals in the six new regions and  Ghana Centre for Disease Control.

 

• Rehabilitation of the Effia-Nkwanta Hospital in the Western region, into a virtually new facility.
• All together the NPP will build 111 health facilities including the construction of 2 new psychiatric hospitals and an infectious disease centers for each of the three ecological zones: coastal, northern, and middle belt zones

 

• NPP Government will establish a National Rental Assistance Scheme (NRAS) with a seed capital of Ghc100 million. This is great news Ghanaians especially, we the youth.

 

• Given that our artists do not have the capital to set up studios, we will, as part of the entrepreneurial hub’s strategy, establish, in partnership with the private sector, large recording studios in Accra, Kumasi, Tamale and Takoradi. Recording artists can rent space to do their recordings in these studios.

 

• We will build a digital platform for artists to make their products available to the global market
• Build a fully-functional Multi-Purpose Youth and Sports Centres of Excellence in each of the six newly-created Regions in addition to the Ten (10) already under construction and near completion, and finally

 

• Under the Zongo Development Fund, introduce the Zongo Youth Football Talent Hunt (ZYFTAH) programme, a special program for the Youth in Zongos which will help unearth, develop and promote football talents in Zongo communities through competitions and football clinics in collaboration with local and international partners.

 

NDC MANIFESTO 

 

Ladies and Gentlemen, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) also launched their 2020 Manifesto a few days ago. After engaging with scores of young Ghanaians across the country our verdict is that the NDC’s 2020 Manifesto is simply a document full of unrealistic, populist and discredited promises disguised as the people’s manifesto when in fact it is not.  The vast majority are either stolen ideas, repetition of existing or ongoing projects by the NPP, deceptive and unreliable policies, and recycled failed promises from their 2012 Manifesto. For instance the promise to pay Assemblymen on Page 93-94 of the 2012 Manifesto.

 

Now imagine the same promise in the 2020 Manifesto on Page 113, in which the NDC affirms once again that they will pay Assemblymen. Clearly, the NDC and John Mahama cannot be trusted.

 

We have painstakingly perused both the 2012 and 2020 Manifestos of the NDC vis-a-vis the actual performance of the incompetent Mahama administration and wish to expose the unbridled lies and deceptions therein.

 

Ladies and Gentlemen, to start with, the theme of the NDC 2020 Manifesto (Jobs, Prosperity, and More: People’s Manifesto) is a contradiction of the very nature, form, and substance of the NDC, both in Government and in opposition. They have never governed in the interest of the people, neither have they crafted any policy to create jobs and prosperity for the People. This is evident in the many anti-people centered policies they implemented when in government and their fierce resistance for the pro-poor policies of the NPP.

 

Mr. Mahama and the NDC are notoriously known for putting their parochial interest and selfish gains ahead of the very needs of the people, including Jobs. It is important to remind ourselves that the supposed “people-centered” Party led by Mr. Mahama superintended over the most insensitive Government that visited untold hardships and excruciating pains on the People of Ghana.

 

Ladies and Gentlemen, at the time when workers were living in abject poverty and were asking for better conditions of service through negotiations, strikes, and demonstrations, Mr John Mahama said that “I have seen more demonstrations and strikes in my first two years. I don’t think it can get worse…I have a dead goat syndrome”. Is this a “people-centered” person who is interested in shared prosperity? ABSOLUTELY NOT!

 

At the time when Dumsor-Dumsor was collapsing businesses, causing massive job losses and destroying the livelihood of Ghanaians, Mahama said to the people “pay more if you want stable electricity”. Sadly, he increased electricity tariffs, between 2013-2016, by over 200% yet failed to give the people stable power. Is this a “people-centered” person who is interested in creating jobs and prosperity for the Youth? ABSOLUTELY NOT!

 

The supposed “People-Centered” Mahama refused to support and cushion Ghanaians whose businesses collapsed and those who lost their jobs as a result of the 5 years of Dumsor-Dumsor borne out of the incompetence, mismanagement, and the corruption of his administration. He simply didn’t care about the plight of Ghanaians. Can we trust such a person to create jobs and prosperity for the Youth? ABSOLUTELY NOT!

 

At the time when parents whose wards in the Nursing and Teacher Training Colleges were facing extreme difficulties in meeting financial demands associated with the education of their wards as a result of the bad economic conditions, the supposed “people-centered” Mahama canceled the Trainee Allowance stating arrogantly that “We’d rather lose the elections than restore trainee allowance.” Is this a “people-centered” person? ABSOLUTELY NOT!

 

There is no doubt that Mr. Mahama and the NDC cannot be trusted with the destiny of the Youth.

 

The Economy

 

Ladies and Gentlemen, the economy is the most important aspect of governance. The economy is everything and everything is the economy. So, if you cannot manage the economy, then you cannot manage the country, let alone create jobs, reduce poverty, enhance social mobility and prosperity.

 

On page 21 of the NDC 2020 Manifesto, they promise to “fix the economy” by lowering inflation, growing GDP, containing the deficit and public debt.

 

Ladies and Gentlemen, “Kwaterekwa s3 ob3 ma wo ntama a, tie ne din”. In the history of the fourth Republic, the NDC remains the only party with the worse economic performance and Mr. Mahama is the only President to have inherited a robust economy but left it in comatose with all the economic indicators pointing to the wrong direction as shown below:

 

•  Mr. Mahama and the NDC took over an economy that was growing at 9.1% in 2009, but by 2016 they shrunk it to 3.4%.

 

•  Inflation under the incompetent Government of Mr. Mahama was 15.4%. NPP dropped it steadily to 7.9% at the end of December 2019, about the lowest recorded since 1992.

 

On page 21 of the NDC 2020 Manifesto, the NDC promised to promote and protect indigenous Ghanaian businesses and promote Local Economic Development. Why then did they sit by unconcerned as the dumsor crises ravaged Ghana’s industrial landscape? Why did they not protect the 885 Ghanaian companies that collapsed to save the thousands of jobs that that went down the drain?

 

These statements on the economy come from a party that missed ALL its economic promises and targets contained in its 2012 manifesto. After such a terrible showing, it will be suicidal to trust any economic promise from the NDC.

 

Conclusion

 

The promising spree, contradictions and u-turns of Mr John Mahama and the NDC signal only one thing: that their singular aim is to say and do whatever it takes–including what the devil may himself frown upon– to capture political power.

 

But Fellow Youth, s3 kwaterekwa s3 ob3 ma wo ntama a, tie ne din.

 

The NDC says they will create one million jobs in 4 years. What did they do in 8 years? Can we go and check their records? If indeed the NDC can create one million jobs in 4 years, it means they created 2 million jobs in 8 years. Since the answer to the above rhetorical questions are a big, fat NO, we can aptly say that Mahama and his NDC are back to their mendacity just to win an election.

 

Still holding onto the idea that Ghanaians have short memories, Mr Mahama is now promising to maintain the Nursing and Teacher Trainee allowances. S3 kwaterekwa s3 ob3 ma wo ntama a, tie ne din. Was he not the same person who claimed they were not tenable and therefore cancelled them? Does he think he can lie his way to victory in the upcoming elections?

 

Mahama and the NDC have promised to absorb 50% of fees of tertiary students for the 2020 /2021 academic year. For someone who vehemently opposed Free SHS and even claimed it was impossible to implement because he was bereft of innovative ideas, what can he do to tertiary education? We must ensure such a person does not come to power to mess up our education system!

 

Must we really remind Ghanaians about the sordid reality of dumsor, the plethora of collapsed businesses and its concomitant hiked unemployment? How can such a person who could not stabilise the power supply for eight years do it in four years? Are we ready for another NDC term to turn back the hand of the clock to those dark days?

 

We have certainly not forgotten about the mess Mahama and his NDC did to the economy and our subsequent punishment by sending Ghana to the IMF. A painful laugh to such an incompetent person claiming to have a magic wand to fix the economy. Those who couldn’t implement the one-time premium are promising Free Primary Care. Indeed, s3 kwaterekwa s3 ob3 ma wo ntama a, tie ne din.

The renowned corrupt Mahama says he will fight corruption with ‘Operation STING’. Well, let us ask about the FORD, AIRBUS and the many instances of corruption as well as selling a bauxite mining concession to his family. Ladies and gentlemen s3 kwaterekwa s3 ob3 ma wo ntama a, tie ne din.

 

Thank you

 

About The Author