TUC urges Mahama to turn to agriculture in quest to create jobs for the youth

The Trades Union Congress (TUC) says if President Mahama is committed to creating jobs as he stated in the State of the Nation Address (SONA), then he should immediately re-instate workers appointed after the December 7 elections who have been dismissed.

Reacting to the SONA delivered to Parliament on February 27, the Deputy Secretary General of TUC, Dr Nyarko Otoo said, if President Mahama is ready to create jobs, he should start by re-instating the sacked workers.

“We think that as a start, the President should consider our plea to stop the revocation of employment in the public sector, because in one way you cannot talk about solving the youth unemployment problem while issuing a fiat that a large number of people are also being rendered unemployed.

“We recognize the challenge with the appointments that were made and as a gesture of goodwill from the father of the country, we think that he should stop the revocation as starting point in solving the unemployment challenge that Ghana faces,” Dr Otoo appealed.

Dr. Kwabena Nyarko Otoo who spoke with our labour affairs correspondent, Daniel Opoku on February 28.

Job creation has been a major headache for most governments in Ghana, also across the globe. In Ghana, available figures indicate that more than two million youth are unemployed.

In his State of the Nation Address, President Mahama described the unemployment situation as security threat. He emphasised on creating jobs to propel growth in the economy.

The TUC has supported the need for more jobs to be created.

Dr Otoo said the President could also turn his attention to creating jobs in the agriculture sector by subsidizing agriculture. This, he explained, would attract more youth into the sector.

“When he talked about agriculture, we see that is an area he can solve the unemployment challenge, his ‘adwumawura’ project will help in that regard, but we also want to make it clear to the President that, he should put in place a support mechanism for people that engage in agriculture by subsidizing, supporting so we eliminate the perception that poor people are in agriculture,” he explained.

Dr Otoo also pointed out that reviewing mining agreement clauses will open avenues for job creation.

“We need to make our natural resources count. We are on course from 2024 to have an export revenue of close to eleven billion dollars from gold alone. If the gold belongs to us, why can’t we make 30 percent of that and that will translate into about 3.3 billion dollars more than the money we are getting from the IMF,” he contended.

Dr Otoo explained that, “The point I am making is that gold and the natural resource sector are the growing sectors, it is important that the resetting agenda must seek to make the most out of growing sectors to finance our development rather financing development through loans.”

The General Secretary of TEWU, King James Azortibah appealed to the President to consider job creation in the hospitality sector.

“The arts and culture we should also develop it. The Museums and Monuments Board, anytime we meet Management, it is lamentation upon lamentation. Plans are there, the Museums and Monuments Board, the plan is there for a hospitality center that can house about 100 tourist,” he said.

According to him, “Our hospitality centers are private and they are very expensive. They could employ more, so if we follow it, it will really tackle the unemployment in the country.”

On education, Mr Azortibah lauded President Mahama for his decision to allow heads of institutions to take charge of procuring food for the students.

“The assurance that he is going to reinstate the supply system, the school feeding system back to the school administrators and for my members who are procurement offices, it will help them to buy kitchen stuff,” he said.

“Because for us in TEWU for a student to be very excellent it depends on what he is fed in the school. Good nutrition leads to enhanced intellect,” he said.

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