NDC lies about 1.7m jobs

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Category: Development

Created on Saturday, 14 April 2012 00:00

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NDC lies about 1.7m jobs

President John Evans Atta-Mills’ claim of having created 1.7 million jobs in three years has been contradicted by figures from the Social Security and National Insurance Trust which shows that the number of active contributors to SSNIT has been declining ever since President Mills assumed the reins of power.

Employers as well as employees are required by law to pay a total of 17.5% of monthly salaries as SSNIT contributions, with the total number of contributors as at March 2012 showing a total of 975,382 Ghanaians being active contributors to SSNIT.

Thus, the NDC’s claim of having created 1.7 million jobs in three years was expected to have had a rippling effect on the total number of SSNIT contributors as mandated by law.

In 2009, SSNIT contributors totalled 1,308,086 and this number increased to 1,327,658 in 2011 showing an increase of some 200,000. However, as per the March 2012 figures, the number of SSNIT contributors has reduced drastically.

According to experts in the labour field, government’s claim of having created 1.7 million jobs should have witnessed a corresponding increase in SSNIT contributors by some 500,000 to 800,000 new subscribers, as opposed to the decline witnessed in the March 2012 figures.

Analysts, in trying to play the devil’s advocate, wonder why, if government indeed created 1.6 million jobs in 2009, as claimed by deputy Minister of Information, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, it had added only 100,000 more jobs thus far.

Officials of the Mills-Mahama government have had cause to doubt their figures regarding the number of jobs created, as was the case with former employment Minister, Enoch Teye mensah.

In 2010, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa stated that the number in his famous debunking of the 1.6million employment claim announced by the latter. “I don’t know about 1.6million jobs. We don’t have the statistics,” E.T. Mensah said in parliament in answering a question on the subject, in total contrast to the categorical statement of the deputy information Minister.

Another contradiction in case is the employment put out with regards to the number of jobs created under the National Youth Employment Programme. In the first edition of the Green Book, the NDC stated that they had created 110,796 jobs. Fast forward to Green Book Part II, the NDC states it has created 100,000 NYEP jobs since assuming office.

News Desk

Source: The Statesmanonline