By Daniel Bampoe
The Member of Parliament for Ofoase-Ayirebi, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, has strongly challenged the government’s claim that it created one million jobs within nine months, arguing that the assertion does not reflect the realities faced by young people across the country.
Contributing to the debate on the State of the Nation Address on the floor of Parliament, Mr. Oppong Nkrumah questioned the credibility of the job creation figures cited by the government, suggesting that the claim exposes what he described as a disconnect between official statistics and the lived experiences of Ghanaian youth.
“Mr. Speaker, one of the biggest statistics that exposes the fact that our colleagues on the other side are disconnected from reality is when they claim that in nine months, one million people have found jobs,” he told the House.
According to him, the figure appeared unrealistic given the economic conditions currently confronting young people across the country.
“In nine months. I am sure that even the Government Statistician himself doesn’t believe it,” he remarked, drawing reactions from members of the chamber.
Doubts Over Job Creation Claims
The former Information Minister said many lawmakers were aware that the claim did not reflect the actual employment situation on the ground.
“For our colleagues who are here, they themselves know that it is not true that one million youth have found jobs in nine months,” he stated.
Mr. Oppong Nkrumah argued that if the government’s claim were accurate, Members of Parliament would not be facing constant pressure from unemployed youth in their constituencies.
“If it is true, why are the young people in your constituencies chasing you?” he asked. “Where are the jobs?”
Questions Over Key Government Programmes
The Ofoase-Ayirebi MP also cast doubt on several flagship programmes that the government has cited as evidence of its job creation efforts.
Among them is the widely publicised 24-hour economy policy, which he described as failing to produce the expected employment opportunities.
“Your 24-hour economy has become a hoax,” he said.
He further criticised the government’s much-talked-about “one million coders” initiative, which was intended to train large numbers of young Ghanaians in digital skills and technology-related jobs.
“People are even looking for those who have supposedly graduated to give them contracts,” he remarked. “We can’t find the one million coders.”
Apprenticeship And Youth Programmes Under Scrutiny
Mr. Oppong Nkrumah also questioned the effectiveness of other apprenticeship and job creation programmes being promoted by the government.
“Mr. Speaker, as for the other apprenticeship and job creation programmes, the less said about them, the better,” he stated, suggesting that many of the initiatives had yet to deliver meaningful results.
According to him, the government’s repeated references to the one-million-jobs figure were unlikely to convince the public unless tangible employment opportunities could be demonstrated.
“So where are these one million jobs?” he asked again. “The jobs that you claim you have created.”
‘Reality Will Be the True Test’
The Minority legislator emphasised that the ultimate measure of government performance would not be statistics presented in Parliament but the actual experiences of young people searching for work.
“As I have said, you can recite this number over and over again,” he said. “The lived experience of the young Ghanaian out there is what will be measured at the end of the day.”
Debate
The comments come in the wake of the government’s presentation of economic and employment statistics during the State of the Nation Address, which highlighted job creation initiatives as part of efforts to tackle youth unemployment.
However, the claims have become a major point of contention in Parliament, with members of the Minority insisting that the figures must be backed by verifiable evidence of employment across sectors of the economy.
