Former Deputy Minister for Communication under the John Mahama-administration has provided figures to shred Dr Bawumia’s claims of solutions this government has found to the problems of the teeming youthful population of Ghana.
Dr Mahamadu Bawumia, the Vice President, as part of events to celebrate this year’s International Youth Day, said the NPP government has done a lot to reduce the high spate of unemployment among the youth.
Besides, Dr Bawumia said the youth in Ghana feel more secured and are better off under this government than they were under the John-Mahama government.
Taking to his social media pages, however, Felix Ofosu-Kwakye said; “As usual, his (Dr Bawumia) claims are laden with ridiculous falsehoods and fabrications intended to mislead the uninitiated and less informed in our society. His falsehoods are many but I will provide facts shattering them in a methodical manner to the extent that time and space permit.”
Point by point, the former Deputy Minister continued: “His first claim is that (i) before coming to power in 2017, there was no public sector employment and (ii) since 2017, over 750,000 public sector workers have been employed. Both claims are gratuitous lies invented to cover up for their inability to resolve the massive unemployment problem.
“I have attached below extracts from official government of Ghana sources and publications outing the Vice President as a paragon of lies.”
On Dr Bawumia’s first claim that there was no public sector recruitment before the Akufo-Addo-led ggovernment came to power on 2017, Mr Ofosu-Kwakye said between 2009 and 2016 under the NDC, tens of thousands of public sector workers were employed.
He said; “Data contained in the Education Management and Information System (EMIS) Data operated by the Ministry of Education shows that over 70,000 teachers were employed.”
Adding, “The Facts and Figures publication by the Ghana Health Service (I have attached an extract from page 24 of the 2017 publication) shows that the number of nurses employed increased from 24,974 in 2009 to 52,605 in 2016 meaning that 27,631 nurses were recruited over the period. Between 2009 and 2016, over 15,000 policemen and women were employed. I could go on on with numbers in other government agencies.”
On Dr Bawumia’s second claim that this government has employed over 750,000 public sector workers in the last five years, Felix Ofosu-Kwakye said this government’s own budget statements expose him.
He said; “Because public sector workers are paid with public funds, their numbers are captured in the budget statements over the years for budgeting purposes. Appendix 7 of the 2017 budget statement presented by Ken Ofori-Atta clearly breaks down the staff strength of the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) at the beginning of the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia administration and gives the total figure as 626,781.
In his conclusion, the former Deputy Minister assured Dr Bawumia of returning with responses to other specific claims.
Felix Ofosu-Kwakye further encouraged Ghanaians to verify before trusting anything the Vice President says “because he has proven time and again that the dignify, weight and requirements of the office he occupies matters little to him and as such he would peddle any lie in so far as he perceives that it helps him to cover up for the horrific and hopeless governance he and his boss have unleashed on us.”
By: Umar Sheriff Musah