NPP's Atta Fordjour slams NDC over pessimistic NABCO comments

A communication team member of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) in Okaikoi Central constituency in the Greater Accra Region, Atta Fordjour has lambasted the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) for not praising the government for the creation of over 100,000 jobs for unemployed graduates.

It will be recalled that President Nana Akufo-Addo declared some one hundred thousand young graduates recruited under one of government’s employment programmes, the Nation Builders Corps (NABCO) last Wednesday.

Whereas the president was confident of the success of the programme and its impact on the country’s economy, the opposition NDC believes the programme is a policy that will not solve the country’s unemployment challenges.

But speaking in an interview with Mugabe Maase on ‘Inside Politics’ on Radio XYZ, Mr Atta Fordjour rubbished such assertions and clarified that the Nation Builders Corps (NABCo) was a thoughtful initiative by the Government to address the current unemployment situation in the country.

He referred to the NDC as a party that will never see anything good the government does hence its members’ negative comments should not be taken seriously.

He indicated that the erstwhile NDC government could not bring such initiative to tackle unemployment yet they were quick to criticize the “fine policy that will bring relief to the youth who were jobless under the NDC led administration.”

However, Kojo Dankwa, a member of the NDC national communication team, disagreed with Atta Fodjour, citing that NABCO lacks policy directions.

Kojo accused the government of engaging in “populist agenda to score cheap political points.”

Criticizing the GHS700 monthly allowances for the NABCO beneficiaries, he stressed it could not cater for their needs and alleviate them from the hardships the Akufo-Addo led government has unleashed on the many Ghanaians.

But Mr Fodjour, who disagreed with Kojo, went on to explain that “getting something small at the end of the month is far better than being in the house doing nothing.”

He observed that unemployment was a national security threat and thus “the NPP government deserves some credit” for initiating NABCO and other social intervention policies like the ‘Planting for Food and Jobs’, Free SHS and Youth in Afforestation which are geared toward poverty alleviation in Ghana.