At least 145,000 new employees are expected to be added to the public payroll as the government defends its job creation scorecard.

Information minister-designate Kojo Oppong Nkrumah provided the breakdown to include 100,000 graduates recruited to into the Nation Builders Corp.
Some 24,033 health workers, 20,000 personnel for government’s afforestation programme, 9,572 educational workers.

Other areas include agriculture where 2,700 are set for employment as Extension officers while 3,527 jobs for the security personnel have been created. The minister said about 4,000 more are to be recruited into the police service.

The minister said on Joy News late night news analysis show PM Express, the Finance Ministry within the last three months has given the financial clearance to hire these numbers.

NABco will be launched in October 2018. The programme was formed to give jobless graduates a three-year working experience in several sectors, education, health, agriculture and revenue collection.

Each graduate is expected to receive 700cedis per month. Government’s introduction of Double Track education system has also created the need for some 9,572 educational workers mainly teachers, he said.

Under the Double Track system, overcrowded classrooms in Senior High Schools are divided into two streams with different sets of teachers. The system has created the need for more teachers.

The NPP MP said although the number of jobs created is huge, the high unemployment levels means there is still a cry for jobs.

“We acknowledge that. We are committed to dealing with that. But let it not be said that nothing is being done”, he told the host of the show Evans Mensah.

Co-panelist Ato Forson cast doubt over the minister’s revelation and indicated it would have to be studied.

There is no reliable data on the levels of unemployment in Ghana but the magnitude of the problem was not lost on the 2016 elections campaign which put the New Patriotic Party led by Akufo-Addo into power.

A year into the Akufo-Addo administration the President in January 2018, was asked to show his record of job creation during an interaction with a cross-section of journalists.

The President asked for more time explaining, “in two to three months time, we will be able to answer that question in a more effective manner”.

Barely four months later, the Labour and Employment minister Ignatius Baffour Awuah on May Day announced government had created one million jobs. The claim was rejected by the Minority which described it as “fathom figures” even after the government provided its evidence.

Questions have been raised about whether the employed into the public service, for example, replace retiring or aging staff can be considered as job creation.

Government was also criticised for passing off ‘sack-and-replace’ tactics as job creation tool. Former deputy Finance minister Ato Forson, said the government had only filled vacancies with sympathisers after sacking those believed to be sympathisers of the opposition party.

In the latest demand for jobs, a group of thugs loyal to the NPP, Delta Force, last Sunday disrupted a meeting organised by an NPP MP. They said promises to recruit them into the security services have not been fulfilled.