The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has iterated its commitment in giving salient attention to businesses within the country should they be given a nod come the December election.
According to the Flagbearer of the party, John Dramani Mahama, the propensity of Ghanaian businesses growing profitably will rub off on the economy of Ghana.
“It is only when Ghanaian businesses thrive that our economy can grow and create jobs and prosperity.
“In doing this, and in line with social justice, we will create equal opportunities for Ghanaian businesses and not deal with them based on their political colour or family affiliation of their owners. Government will give them priority in procurement from budgetary sources and we will use Government’s financial muscle to boost Ghanaian business”.
Speaking at an engagement with professionals in Ghana event, organized by the Center for Social Justice, John Mahama further noted that making free SHS programme better and driving support for skills will also be at the heart of his policies implementation in power.
He also revealed his interest in TVET, which he intimated “gained firm roots when I inspected an oil and gas project and was informed by the supervisor that they often bring in professional welders from abroad because Ghana did not have enough trained personnel to deliver according to specifications”.
“From that moment I decided that we needed to rebrand TVET from the basic level to the Technical University so that our youth can be equipped with the needed skills, knowledge and qualifications and be well-positioned to take advantage of the numerous employment opportunities, or to employ themselves and others”.
Tackling a popular feature of youth unemployment was further rehashed by the former president who stated the NDC manifesto, “straddles all such youth”.
“When I see them, I know instantly that we made the right decision going to the people themselves to ask them what we can do to improve their lives because we have initiatives such as the National Apprenticeship Programme (NAP) that suit youth in this category.
“With the free National Apprenticeship Programme the next NDC administration will institute, government would engage and pay for the services of master craftsmen and women and artisans in the communities to equip and train the youth including the youth in Zongos in various traditional vocations such as dressmaking, catering and hairdressing. Upon completion of their training programme, government would give them the needed tools and equipment so that they can start their own businesses and earn a living for themselves.
To Mr. Mahama, programme as contained in the People’s Manifesto “are important because the failure to create jobs for the teeming youth could prove disastrous for the nation”.
“It is a ticking time bomb as events in our neighboring countries are clearly demonstrating.
“We stand to gain a lot as a nation because we will rope in the informal sector in our proposed digital economy which seeks to train many computer programmers. And the country can earn more revenue to support our nation’s development”.
