Folks, I have come to the conclusion, that the gullible NPP supporters who believe Bawumia’s dubious claim that this government has created over 2.2 million jobs, require urgent examination.
I will tell you why:
1. In February 2021, the Minister-designate for Employment and Labour Relations, Ignatius Baffour-Awuah told the Vetting committee of Parliament, that the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia/NPP government created 3 million jobs, comprising private and public sector jobs under their first term (2017-2020). See https://thebftonline.com/2021/02/18/over-3m-jobs-created-in-akufo-addo-first-term-ignatius-baffour-awuah/.
It is important to note that, Ignatius Baffour Awuah has been the Minister for employment and Labour relations for the first term and second term of the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia government.
2. As if this lie was not enough, on 16th September, 2020, this same Minister for Employment and Labour Relations, Ignatius Baffour-Awuah speaking at the launch of the 2022 Ghana Job Fair in Sunyani, Bono Region indicated that the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia government has created over 5.3 million jobs. See https://www.myjoyonline.com/government-has-created-5-3m-jobs-employment-and-labour-relations-minister/
3. Barely six (6) months after the Employment minister made the above 5.3 million jobs claim, the Liar-in-Chief of the NPP, Alhaji Bawumia, stated on his Twitter handle on 27th April, 2023, that the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia government has created 2,255,928 jobs since 2017 (excluding jobs created under the Planting for Food and Jobs Program (PF&J) and the NIA).
4. Have you noticed the changing figures?
The 3 million jobs they claim to have created by the end of 2020, miraculously increased to over 5.3 million jobs in only 1 year, 9 months of their second term – that is, by September, 2022. Few months after, Bawumia now claims, that they have created 2,255,928 jobs, excluding jobs they claim to have created under PF&J & the NIA.
5. The truth of the matter is that, even if you add the phantom “by-day”/ laborer jobs, they claim to have created under the PF&J program and all the jobs (casual and permanent) which they claim to have created at the NIA, to Bawumia’s 2,255,928 jobs figure, you will still not get 5.3 million jobs. It should therefore be obvious to every reasonable and objective mind, that these crooks are simply conjuring figures and cannot be trusted.
6. On 30th August, 2021, the then Minister of Agric, Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto was reported to have publicly stated that government has created 2 million jobs under the PF&J program. See Planting for Food and Jobs has created 2 million jobs – Agric Minister | 3News.com.
7. How did the Agric Minister come by this figure? According to the Agric Minister’s own documents presented to Parliament, he simply divided the total number of bags of subsidized fertilizer government has distributed to farmers under the PF&J program by three (3), to get the number of acres of land covered by farmers with the said fertilizer. He then went on to multiply the resultant figure by two(2) based on the ridiculous assumption that every acre of land requires the services of two (2) “by-day” workers or laborers. This is how the Agric Minister, ridiculously arrived at the phantom figure of 2 million jobs under PF&J.
8. What the Agric Minister failed to appreciate, is that the PF&J program is meant to primarily support peasant farmers who produce mainly for their households and only sell the surplus of their produce on the market. And that such peasant farmers, do not usually resort to hiring of laborers for their games but rather, a system popularly known as “nnoboa” among the Akans. In any case, since when, in the history of Ghana, has any government counted “by-day”/laborer jobs on farms, as part of jobs created? Only under the deceitful and failed Akufo-Addo/Bawumia government.
9. Knowing very well that the claim that his government has created 2 million jobs under PF&J is false, Alhaji Bawumia has conveniently runaway from that narrative. It is pretty obvious to him that, “by-day” jobs on farms, cannot he reasonably counted as jobs created by any serious government. This is why Bawumia conveniently left that figure out in the figures he put out.
10. My point is, even if you add the fraudulent and phantom 2 million “by-day” jobs this government claims to have created under the PF&J program and all the jobs they claim to have created at the the NIA (casual & permanent) to the figure Bawumia has put out which is 2,255,928, you will still not get the 5.3 million jobs figure the Employment Minister put out in September last year, 2022.
This is why every discerning person must know that Bawumia is simply a liar.
11. According to the Ghana Statistical Service, the rate of Unemployment has increased from 8.4% in 2016 to about 14% as at 2022. To make matters worse, Government announced a total freeze on public sector employment in its 2023 budget. See Gov’t freezes public sector employment effective January 2023 – BusinessGhana. The Akufo-Addo/Bawumia government has collapsed and is still collapsing thousands of jobs through their bad policies. They should therefore be the last people to boast about job creation. Their job-creation record is the most abysmal in the history of the 4th Republic given the gargantuan resource envelope that has accrued to them.
If you still believe Bawumia’s 2.2 million jobs claim, then I dare say, that you require urgent psychiatric help.
NB: In my next write-up on this subject, I will be doing a sectorial analysis of the number of jobs Bawumia claims to have created and expose him based on data contained in government’s own budget statements. Stay tuned.
The writer, Sammy Gyamfi is the National Communications Officer of the National Democratic Congress.
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