The leader of The New Force Movement, Nana Kwame Bediako has promised to address the country’s huge unemployment crisis with an ambitious regional industrialization agenda if elected president.
Currently, the country’s unemployment rate stands at 14.7 percent, according to data from the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS). The number of unemployed young people aged 15 to 35 increased from about 1.2 million to over 1.3 million during the same period, with the unemployment rate consistently higher among females than males.
This serious economic challenge, Nana Kwame Bediako, says he intends to tackle by reviving the industrial prowess of all the regions in the country which he believes has not been prioritized over the years.
Speaking at the virtual launch of his manifesto, Cheddar as he is popularly known, explained that this policy will tap into the strength of all the individual regions with emphasis on industrialization, processing, and value-addition.
He estimates that Ghana’s potential precious minerals in addition to agricultural lands are valued at about US$2.5 trillion. With proper approach and technology, The New Force Leader believes Ghana can rake in an output value of US$4.7 trillion in the next 10 years.
“We start by making sure we invest in all these 16 regions, that is industrial plants to be able to refine all our minerals, and then the processing plants, to be able to process all our agro plants,” Cheddar explained.
With this policy, he is optimistic that his government can create about 800,000 jobs annually across all 16 regions of Ghana. Each region is estimated to create at least 50,000 jobs annually which he believes will amount to about 8 million jobs in a decade.
He explained “We do the agric, but we don’t do the culture. The culture is the 7 times of processing one product like cocoa. It can be chocolate. It can be cocoa butter cream. It can be a shampoo. It can be so many things and create more jobs. As you can already see, 800,000 jobs per year within these 16 regions. That makes it at least 50,000 people getting a job in a region. I’m being conservative with the 8 million jobs in 10 years.”
Wading to the controversial debate of the 24-hour economy policy introduced by the opposition NDC, Nana Kwame Bediako contended that his style of industrialization alone is the surest way of achieving the 24-hour economy.
“But to be honest with you, a machine, a plant is the only thing that can give you jobs in three different shifts, 8 hours times 3 a day. That is what I call a 24-hour economy. You need industrialization. Who sells gari for 24 hours in Makola? The women in Kejetia and Kantamanto cannot work for 24 hours. It will take a factory. It will take a plant. It will take a production line to give three shifts a day,” he argued.
He therefore emphasized that “No industrialization, No 24-hour economy.”
