Government’s NABCo funding claim is a ‘gargantuan lie’ – Murtala Mohammed
Legislator for the Tamale Central Constituency, Ibrahim Mohammed Mutala has accused the government of lying about the financing arrangement the government claim to have made for the Nation Builders Corps (NABCo) initiative.
He further described the financing claim as a “gargantuan lie.”
The program was launched by President Akufo-Addo on Tuesday, May 1 2018.
President Akufo-Addo while launching the programme was confident that by the time NABCo trainees exited the scheme “the requisite work readiness skills and experience, often deemed a barrier to their employment as fresh graduates, would have been resolved.”
He explained that “NABCO will be the vehicle to deliver one hundred thousand (100,000) jobs in seven (7) prioritised areas, defined as the following modules: Educate Ghana; Heal Ghana; Feed Ghana; Revenue Ghana; Digitise Ghana; Enterprise Ghana; and Civic Ghana.”
Giving details into the rationale for the establishment of the Corps, President Akufo-Addo pointed out that the grim story of youth unemployment had been a tragic part of the lives of Ghanaians for far too long in Ghana.
The situation he indicated was worsened by the ban placed on public sector employment by the International Monetary Fund at the time.
“I gave an indication that a new employment scheme will be launched to tackle the issue of the growing numbers of graduates exiting our tertiary institutions with no job placements insight,” he said.
NABCo’s central focus, the President said, was to create employment avenues and opportunities for young people who hold diplomas or degrees from accredited tertiary institutions, adding that “NABCO will enhance the dignity and self-esteem of our graduates, and will also present them with the added benefit of efficiency and effectiveness in the delivery of some essential public services.”
Mr Murtala Ibrahim Mohammed who is also a former Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry pointed out that “They said they were providing 100,000 jobs. Just do the arithmetic and multiply 100,000 by 700 cedis because we were told that each beneficiary was being paid 700 cedis.
“When I raised the issue they gave a response. They said it could be taken care of in the mid-year budget for 2018. If salary alone, allowances alone of 100,000 within a year was going to cost the government some 840 million, yet they had only 400 million in the budget and that 400 million included the establishment of regional and district offices and the manpower and the logistics.
“Now they said it would take care of it in the mid-year budget, that was the response. I challenge you to go and look at the mid-year budget for 2018, NABCo was not there. So this has been the gargantuan lie told to the people of this country.”
By: Stella Annan | myactiveonline.com Twitter @activetvgh
