Kofi Tonto, a political aide to the Vice President and flagbearer for the ruling New Patriotic Party, has attributed the increasing unemployment rate in the country to population growth,
Mr. Tonto insists while unemployment figures for the first three quarters of 2023 stood at 14.7% the Nana Akufo Addo government has created about 2.3 million jobs since it assumed office in 2017.
“We have created a lot of jobs for Ghanaians. The gov’t has helped to create 2.3 million jobs; however, there are still many youth unemployed at home.
“Population-wise, over the past 8 years, our population has grown by 5 million people. This tells us that the number of people is increasing, so the number of jobs needed to fill that gap will also increase,” Kofi explained.
Explaining his points on Abusua Nkomo on Abusua FM; Mr. Tonto further drew attention to the debilitating effects of the post-pandemic global economic meltdown which hit the bottom line of several businesses driving them to either lay off workers or shut down.
He told host Kojo Marfo “the unemployment rate will rise due to the effect COVID-19 had on the global economy. I’ve also told you that SMEs employ the most people. If you look at SMEs, the COVID-19 pandemic affected a lot of small-scale businesses.
“If the gov’t is creating jobs by helping to employ 10 people while also assisting others, and then a pandemic strikes that cause at least 1 to 6 businesses to collapse, even though you’re helping people get employed, many will still be at home due to the crisis”, he contended.
He emphasized the urgency to improve a lot of businesses in the shortest space of time and informed Dr. Bawumia’s campaign manifesto promise to create a business bank for SMEs.
“That is why our target is to help SMEs, as that’s where our mothers’ businesses are involved. We aim to create a business bank for SMEs and also implement a rural program through the Women’s Fund to support our mothers, which will help strengthen their businesses.”
Source: Ghana/Starrfm.com.gh/103.5FM/Kwadwo Owusu
