The Minority Leader in Parliament, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, has launched a blistering attack on the government’s flagship 24-Hour Economy initiative, labeling it a “hopeless slogan” that has failed to deliver promised job opportunities for the country’s youth.
Addressing Members of Parliament during his welcome speech as the House resumed sitting, the Effutu lawmaker accused the governing National Democratic Congress of capturing the votes of young Ghanaians during the campaign period with grand promises that have ultimately yielded no tangible results nearly two years into their administration.
He recalled how the NDC presented a compelling vision to the electorate, promising a vibrant economic model featuring continuous operations and multiple shifts to absorb unemployed young people into the workforce. According to him, the reality on the ground paints a starkly different picture from the vibrant campaign promises.
“The NDC told the youth a beautiful story. A 24-hour economy, one job, three shifts, factories that never sleep and young people who finally get to work. Ghanaians believed it. They voted for it. They trusted that the NDC government would keep its word,” he stated.
Expressing deep frustration over the current state of the policy, the Minority Leader noted that despite legislative and institutional frameworks being put in place, the core promise of job creation remains unfulfilled.
“Nearly two years, what do we have? A law, an authority, a slogan on T-shirts and billboards. But Mr Speaker, where are the jobs?” he quizzed.
Mr. Afenyo-Markin further raised serious concerns regarding the financial backing of the initiative, highlighting discrepancies within official government accounting documents submitted to the legislature.
“When the budget was read, we looked for the money. The Finance Minister announced one figure. The mighty minority pointed to a different one in the appendix,” he stated.
Illustrating the practical challenges plaguing the execution of the policy, the Minority Leader cited a specific instance where an investor operating under the scheme faced basic infrastructural hurdles that halted operations.
“A 24-hour economy that cannot keep a single factory switched on. A 24-hour economy that cannot build a single market is not an economy. It is a hopeless slogan,” Mr. Afenyo-Markin said, detailing how the investor could not even secure an electricity transformer from the Electricity Company of Ghana and was left struggling over power costs.
He asserted that the policy has severely disappointed the youth, reversing the initial optimism that greeted its announcement.
“The only shifts our young people have seen under this policy is a shift from hope to despair,” he said.
To substantiate his assessment of the country’s economic climate, the Minority Leader referenced official metrics from the Ghana Statistical Service, which paint a grim picture of youth engagement and employment across the regions.
“The Ghana Statistical Service tells us that among Ghanaians age 15 to 24, unemployment has averaged about 30 percent. Nearly two million young people age 15 to 35 are neither in school nor in work, nor in training. Greater Accra, the heart of our economy, has the highest youth unemployment of all,” he added.
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana