The Minority in Parliament has condemned President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for not touching on the unemployment situation in the country in the State of the Nation Address delivered on Tuesday, 27 February 2024.

Despite touching on various sectors of the economy, Minority Leader Dr Cassiel Ato Forson indicated that the president failed to touch on the rate of unemployment.

Dr Forson, while seconding a motion on the floor of Parliament, stressed that the subject of unemployment should have been touched on by the President due to the high rate of unemployed youth.

He said: “The unemployment situation in our country is at a critical point yet we did not hear a word from our president on this matter.

“Out of 33 million population, only 11.3 million are employed. This number includes peasant farmers. Mr Speaker the difference between the 33 million and the 11.3 million is what I call Nija, no income, no jobs, no assets.”

The Minority leader continued: “This means that two out of every three Ghanaians are unemployed. 30 per cent of the youth are jobless and about 4.5 million employable Ghanaian class are outside the labour force. This simply means that this number has simply given up on their search for jobs because of years of frustration and disappointment.”

According to the Minority Leader, he is scandalised by the increase in the size of the Akufo-Addo-led government, following the recent ministerial reshuffle.

“I am scandalised and shocked to the marrow to have noticed that our President following the recent ministerial reshuffle has increased the size of his government. Today we have the Minister of Finance Domestic and Minister of Finance International. Mr Speaker $1 today is GHS13 cedis, during the time of President Mahama USD1 was GHS3.80. A vote for Alhaji Bawumia is a vote for President Akufo-Addo’s third term,” Dr Forson noted.

According to the Minority Leader, the president cannot assume sole responsibility for the inability to perform effectively in office.

He asserted that Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia must also accept blame for the financial woes of the country.

“To conclude on this matter, Ghanaians voted for Vice President and are paying for the Vice-President to support you [President Akufo-Addo] to succeed. Mr Speaker the President cannot be alone. The President will have to fail together with the vice president. Mr President, you have failed with the Vice President,” Dr Forson said.

He, therefore, opined that the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia government will not be missed by Ghanaians after their term of office.

“I conclude by saying that Ghanaians will not miss President Akufo-Addo and Alhaji Bawumia. We know you are going, we can only wish you bye–bye but you will never be missed,” he added.