The NDC’s manifesto made a clear vision to steer Ghana towards a better nation through a focus on youth care, development and employment.
2 and a half years in government their manifesto promises continue to remain an excercise in deception, empty slogans and propaganda.
Currently, Ghanaian youth are facing many problems ranging from being used as pawns in the promotion of tribalism, political violence, armed robbery, drug addiction and alcohol abuse due to lack of support employment and opportunity. Their problems have further worsened due to lack of structural programmes to improve their conditions and an increase in a large number of our youths roaming the streets of our cities and towns with nothing to do. You only have to see how our youths are being dragged from schools and classrooms and bussed around to cheer our president on his current regional excursions instead of studying hard to pass their exams or being given the chance to use their skills.
The NDC deceptively made the youth of our country believe and buy into their so called “better Ghana” agenda which has turned out to be nothing but constant feeding of cock and bull stories to Ghanaians. Mr Okudzeto Ablakwa, Deputy Minister of information, came out with an outright lie that 1 million jobs had been created, a statement denied by Mr ET Mensah, his own colleague and Minister of employment.
The vast majority of the youth in Ghana are dejected and without hope and a sense of direction. The NDC government, barely over two years in government has reduced our youths to shamefully scrambling for
ownership and control of public toilets, markets places, their energies being channelled into the burning down of offices resorting to “Sakawa”, get rich quick at any cost or adopting a die trying attitude to make ends meet,and more seriously prostitution. Currently over 170,000 young girls aged between 12 and 19 are engaged in prostitution. What is the government doing to tackle this problem?
We should not be surprised at the NDC’s lack of policies to help the youths in Ghana. This is because historically, the party has never been interested in the handling of youth problems in Ghana. For example the Programme of Action to Mitigate the Social Cost of Adjustment (PAMSCAD) introduced by its predecessors the PNDC government was abandoned because it failed to address the needs of our youth. As a matter of fact the current NDC government continues to struggle with tens of thousand of registered unemployed youths across the country despite President Mills promising to put money in the pocket of our youth especially during his election campaign in the three northern regions, Upper East, Upper West and Northern Regions in 2008.
The NDC government has abandoned its election commitment to the youth of Ghana, they have failed to initiate, restructure or continue with major youth policies and programs (NYEP) initiated by the NPP government led by former president John Agyekum Kufuor. Currently the National Youth Council with the likes of Derrick Adjei as pilots has become a spaceship drifting aimlessly in space without any clear cut action plan to support and champion youth development as well as tackling Youth unemployment.
It is very worrying that youth oriented programs started by the Kufuor administration have either been grossly neglected or mismanaged to the detriment of the future progress of our youth.
It is sad and worrisome to note that the NYEP, initiated by the NPP to engage the services of the youth and garner their energy to develop our nation has been viciously politicized by the NDC, with admission into the program now being purely based on been a party cadre or support for President Mills. It is desperately struggling for funds, direction and leadership.
We believe it is time we depoliticize The NYEP scheme and position it
as a major mobilization tool for youth development and use it to contribute to nation building.
We must review the National Youth Policy from its partisan and biased posture to a truly national document for youth development which advocates for leadership, education for all, entrepreneurship, a can do attitude and healthy living.
The government must lift the current freeze on public sector employment so that our young academic and vocational graduates who are sitting at home can be employed and the knowledge and skills acquired be used for the benefit of themselves and our people as a whole. There are more than 265,000 of them sitting at home President Mills, why are you destroying their future?
Ghana really deserves better
Nana Yaw Sarpong
Communications Officer
NPP UK and Ireland
07983302369