Akufo-Addo promised graduates permanent jobs, not NABCO - Sammy Gyamfi

Member of the Communications team of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Sammy Gyamfi has stated that President Akufo-Addo never promised Ghanaian graduates temporary jobs in the run up to the 2016 general elections, hence the NABCO programme cannot be a substitute for the sustainable jobs promised the teeming unemployed youth of Ghana.

His comment follow the launch of Nation Builders Corps (NaBCO) by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on May 1, 2018 which aims at addressing graduate unemployment in the country.

Central to its objectives is to engage the raw talents of unemployed graduates and equip them with skills through a process of value addition and training.

The scheme is expected to employ 100,000 graduates this year under seven modules; namely, Educate Ghana, Heal Ghana, Feed Ghana, Revenue Ghana, Digitize Ghana, Civic Ghana and Enterprise Ghana. Placement in the NaBCO will last for a period of 3 years under a stipend of GH¢700 every month.

But speaking on Asempa FM’s late afternoon political show dubbed Ekosi Sen on Friday, May 4, 2018, the NDC outspoken communicator, Sammy Gyamfi who lauded President Akufo-Addo for the initiative, however charged the President to create permanent, quality and decent jobs for the teeming unemployed graduates.

He added that President Akufo-Addo during the 2016 general elections never promised the unemployed graduates in the country temporary jobs but promised them sustainable jobs and therefore charged him to go by his words. He indicated that even though NABCO was a good step, it is not the solution the alarming rate of unemployment that the country is faced with.

Sammy Gyamfi was also of the view that NABCO was a duplication of already existent modules under the Youth Employement Agency (YEA) and therefore YEA could have been expanded to cater for the program. He described the creation of another parallel bureaucratic institution for the program as a waste of the taxpayers’ money which must be reversed by government.

The firebrand communicator of the NDC further questioned the source of funding for the program and whether the program is financially sustainable. He posited that government's plan of relying on the DCAF for the program was inappropriate and could pose financial challenges for the scheme and its beneficiaries.



He further expressed concern that the NABCO may be exploited as a political tool and a conduit for jobs for party boys. He, therefore, advised the NPP government to conduct the recruitment process in a fair and non-partisan manner since the program will be funded with the taxpayers’ money and not the dues of NPP party members.

He lamented that it was not proper for professionals like nurses and teachers to be placed on the program due to the compensation disparities that will create and how that could affect motivation at work.

He pleaded with President Akufo-Addo to provide decent and sustainable employment for teachers and nurses in the country by continuing the many educational and health infrastructural projects his predecessor commenced.

He argued that such infrastructural developments are what will create sustainable employment spaces for these professionals.