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MAHAMA BUILDING A FUTURE OF
HOPELESSNESS FOR YOUTH, SAYS AKUFO-ADDO
Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the 2016 presidential
candidate of the New Patriotic Party, says
considering the economic hardships, rampant and
widespread corruption, rising cost of living, and
the high levels of unemployment, it comes as no
surprise to him that Ghanaian youth are angry,
hungry and have given up any hope of the country
offering them a bright future.
This gloomy picture, according to Nana Akufo-Addo,
has characterised the 7 year rule of the John Mahama/NDC
government, adding that the NDC government “has
created an unrelenting social crisis in Ghana”,
especially in the area of youth unemployment.
The NPP flagbearer made this known on Wednesday,
November 4, 2015, when he delivered a speech at the
15th anniversary celebration of the Tertiary
Students Confedracy (TESCON), at the Mensah Sarbah
Hall of the University of Ghana, Legon, on the theme
“NPP Youth – Today, Tomorrow.”
Describing Ghana’s population, which has a median
age of some 20 years, as a young one which is
“disproportionately jobless”, Akufo-Addo stated that
the NPP sees the crisis of youth unemployment as a
development that could have ripple effects for
decades to come — not only for young people's
demoralisation, but also for their weak contribution
to the strength of the Ghanaian economy.
Instead of creating the conditions that would spur
on private sector development, which will bring in
its wake the much needed jobs, and income for the
teeming masses of Ghanaian youth, Akufo-Addo noted
that the John Mahama government has rather
superintended over the country’s dwindling fortunes
in every sector of the economy, adding that “at the
rate at which Ghana is going, I shudder what Ghana
would look like if we give the NDC another four
years, on top of these eight years.”.
Touching on Ghana’s precarious debt situation, which
has shot up from GH¢9.5 billion at the end of 2008
to GH¢94.5 billion as at August 2015, the NPP
flagbearer remarked that soon the Mahama government
“would have to sell everything that Ghana owns to
pay off what we owe; debts that they cannot tell you
and I what they spent the money on to build.”
These massive loans being incurred by the Mahama
government, according to Akufo-Addo, are being used
to refinance debt instead of being invested in areas
that will create jobs for the youth, the downside,
according to him, being that “these same young
people will have to service the debt later.
The decision by the Mahama government to abandon
teachings of the Public Procurement Act, and make
sole sourcing of contracts the norm has seen a
corresponding massive increase in corruption, he
said.
“The nation would have benefitted so much more from
such public infrastructure projects as the NDC has
undertaken if the public finances of our country had
been honestly managed. Instead, in a phrase that has
found judicial approval, we have been subject to a
system of ‘create, loot and share’”, he said.
He continued, “We have seen this in bodies like
GYEEDA and SADA, which were ostensibly set up to
stimulate growth and to provide jobs for young
people. They became vehicles of corruption. So, too,
it appears is the latest body, YES (Youth Enterprise
Support), in which high ranking officials are
already engulfed in allegations of corruption.”
I fear for Ghana
“With every cedi that is stolen under the Mahama
government a child is being denied education, a
farmer being denied fertilizer, a driver not getting
good roads, and the sick being left to die,”
Akufo-Addo explained.
“I fear for Ghana. I am frightened about the future
the NDC is building for the young people of this
country. It is a future of indebtedness; a future of
hopelessness; it is a wretched future being
needlessly created by a reckless government. The
prospect of another four years of this scares me and
so must it scare you, too. Twelve straight years of
NDC would leave you, the young people of Ghana, with
no future of note,” he said.
With Ghana being described as the poster boy of
‘Africa’s Rising’ narrative at the end of President
Kufuor’s tenure, Nana Akufo-Addo asked “how come
Bloomberg can, in an online publication, post a
headline ‘Ghana’s success story goes dark?’”
The answer is, he said, is the NDC that went wrong
and took Ghana down with it.
Don’t lose hope
“To you, the students of Ghana, I say, don’t lose
hope. I have great news for you, though. There is
something great coming. My message for you, our
young people, is this: don’t see this tragedy as
your destiny. There is a brighter future for you.
You have the energy, you have the passion and you
have the drive to make the change Ghana deserves
happen.”
Mentioning a host of Ghanaian youth who are doing
well in various fields of endeavour, ranging from
business and entertainment, to sport, Nana
Akufo-Addo stated that “I am encouraged in my
thinking by the continuing creativity and sense of
enterprise of several of Ghana’s young people. This
reinforces my unshakeable belief in the prospects of
our nation, the Black Star of Africa.”
To the packed auditorium at the Mensah Sarbah hall,
Nana Akufo-Addo assured that the NPP is seeking
change to ensure that Ghana works again.
“Our solution will be principally four-fold: first,
we will stabilise the economy and bring back the
confidence the private sector needs to thrive.
Second, we will come down heavily on corruption,
instil fiscal discipline and invest the savings made
in areas that can create jobs or open up the economy
for greater vibrancy.
“We will do so by developing and expanding rapidly
our public infrastructure, with value for money at
the heart of its financial arrangements and the
active support and participation of the private
sector,” he noted.
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