The government’s flagship job creation programmes have come under sharp criticism in Parliament, with the member of Parliament of Ofoase Ayirebi Constituency in the Eastern Region Kojo Oppong Nkrumah accusing the administration of failing to translate ambitious promises into meaningful employment opportunities for Ghana’s youth.
Delivering a statement on government’s employment agenda, the Ofoase-Ayirebi MP argued that despite repeated announcements and lofty targets, implementation has been slow and outcomes have fallen well below expectations.
According to Oppong Nkrumah, the desperation among young people was evident when more than 90,000 applications were submitted within 48 hours for one government employment programme. However, by November 2025, the programme’s website had effectively gone offline before being relaunched with plans to onboard only 30,000 beneficiaries in its first cohort.
He also questioned the performance of the Edumuru initiative, noting that although government announced a target of supporting 10,000 businesses annually, only 475 entrepreneurs had received grants by March 2026—11 months after the programme’s launch.
“The numbers simply do not add up,” the MP said, insisting that government had failed to deliver on the expectations it created.
Oppong Nkrumah further pointed to the November 12, 2025 recruitment exercise at Elwak Stadium, where about 21,000 young people reportedly competed for roughly 2,000 Ghana Armed Forces positions. The exercise ended in tragedy after six applicants lost their lives in a stampede while five others were admitted to intensive care.
Describing the incident as a stark reflection of the country’s worsening unemployment crisis, he argued that young Ghanaians are no longer looking for slogans but for practical policies that create dignified, productive and well-paying jobs.
He called for greater transparency in government employment programmes through published delivery scorecards, separate funding for skills development and job creation, stronger public-private partnerships, and a national apprenticeship strategy to provide clear pathways into employment and self-employment.
Story By: Sheila Obaapa Naana