A vote for Bawumia is a vote for Akufo-Addo’s third term- Minority
The Minority Caucus in Parliament claims that a vote for the New Patriotic Party’s(NPP) presidential candidate for the 2024 general election Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia is a vote for outgoing President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s third tenure.
Cassiel Ato Baah Forson, the Minority Leader of Parliament responding to the SONA by President Akufo-Addo on Tuesday, February 27, 2024, pointed out that the failure of the ruling government to address social issues like unemployment and the size of government is worrying hence there is the need for a new government to take over from the NPP.
“Mr. Speaker, the unemployment situation in our country is at a critical point yet we did not hear a word from our President on this matter. Two out of every three Ghanaians are unemployed.
“Mr. Speaker, 30% of our youth are jobless and about 4.5 million Ghanaians plus employed are outside the labour force. This simply means that this number has given up looking for jobs due to many years of frustrations looking for jobs.
“Mr Speaker the situation of the nation is hopeless and no wonder ordinary Ghanaians including professionals are leaving our shores in droves in search of greener pastures”.
Speaking on the size of government he said; “I am scandalised, I am shocked to the marrow following the recent reshuffle that has increased the size of government. Now we have a Minister of Finance Domestic and a Minister of Finance International. One dollar today is GH₵13”.
“Mr Speaker, a vote for Bawumia is a vote for Akufo-Addo’s third term” he added.
However, President Akufo-Addo in the SONA stated that one hundred and seventy thousand (170,000) jobs have been created under the novel “One-District-One Factory”(1D1F) Programme by companies in operation.
“Mr. Speaker, the main cornerstone of our move towards the industrial transformation of Ghana is the “One-District-One Factory” policy, this Government’s iconic flagship initiative. It demonstrates how the government can stimulate and incentivize the private sector to expand and diversify manufacturing across the country by harnessing locally available raw materials.
It is significant to note that, within the relatively short span of
six (6) years, the Government has directly intervened to stimulate interest in and support many private-sector business promoters to make significant investments in manufacturing under the One-District-One-Factory
Programme.
“Mr. Speaker, this has led to the development of three hundred and twenty-one (321) 1D1F projects, consisting of two hundred and eleven (211) new, medium to large scale factories, and the conscious enabling
of one hundred and ten (110) existing companies, to inject significant capital investments into the expansion of production facilities, and diversification of products. These business promoters have so far invested in one hundred and forty-two (142) districts across the country, across all sixteen (16) regions, and achieving fifty-four per cent (54%) district coverage. The aspiration is to bring a 1D1F project to every district.
“Mr. Speaker, within this period, some one hundred and seventy thousand (170,000) jobs have been created under the novel 1D1F Programme by companies in operation. Mr Speaker, the Government approved many incentives, including duty exemptions to support the implementation of the 1D1F Programme. In 2019 and 2020, thirty-seven (37) 1D1F companies were granted exemption approval by this august house. However, from 2021 to date, no exemptions have been granted” he added.