The National Youth Organiser of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Mustapha Salam, has criticised the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government over its youth employment programmes, describing them as a “farce” and a “scam”.
According to Mr Salam, several of the NDC’s promises to create jobs for young people have not been properly fulfilled.
He mentioned programmes such as Adwumawura, the One Million Coders initiative and the government’s 24-hour economy policy.
Speaking in an interview, Mr Salam said the NPP had warned young people during the 2024 election campaign that some of the NDC’s job-creation promises were unrealistic.
“I think [our plan] was much more credible than what the NDC was presenting in Agenda 133 [24-hour economy]. And so I kept saying it was a farce,” he said.
Mr Salam also raised concerns about the Adwumawura programme, which was introduced to help young people start and grow their businesses.
He claimed that the government promised to create 100,000 jobs through the programme but had so far created fewer than 10,000 opportunities. He also said the programme had not continued as expected.
“They promised 100,000. They have not been able to do the 100,000. They’ve done under 10,000 or so under the Adwumawura programme. And even the 10,000, they’ve not been able to continue,” he said.
The NPP youth leader also criticised the One Million Coders programme, saying the government had failed to deliver on the promise.
“One Million Coders programme. They have not been able to do it. Forget it. They are just joking there. They are just joking. It’s not there. Everything is a farce,” he said.
Mr Salam further questioned how the government plans to operate a three-shift system under its 24-hour economy policy.
He specifically mentioned institutions such as the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR), Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) and National Petroleum Authority (NPA), arguing that it would be difficult for such institutions to operate three shifts.
“There’s no way you can make TOR, GNPC, NPA run three shifts; it’s not just possible to do so,” he stated.
According to Mr Salam, the NDC’s promises were particularly attractive to young voters during the 2024 election campaign.
He said many young people were frustrated after the NPP’s eight years in government and therefore hoped the NDC would bring better opportunities.
“The lofty promises that the NDC was making were quite, you know, sweet to the ear, for the youth. And today, the same youth are on social media, you know, feeling scammed that indeed all that you told us was a lie,” he said.
Mr Salam also pointed to other promises he believes have not been fulfilled, including the automatic rotation of nurses and the recruitment of teachers.
He argued that these promises created high expectations among young people, but the government has not done enough to meet those expectations.
The NPP National Youth Organiser maintained that his party had presented more practical and realistic solutions to youth unemployment.
He insisted that the NPP’s approach to creating jobs was more achievable and could provide better opportunities for young people if properly implemented.
