The Member of Parliament for Nsawam-Adoagyiri in the Eastern Region, Frank Annoh-Dompreh has challenged the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) to come up with a better alternative, instead of slamming the Nation Builders Corps (NABCO) initiative.
“If NABCO is a vote buying move then as a credible opposition let them provide a better alternative,” Frank Annoh-Dompreh told Kojo Yankson, co-host of the AM show on Joy News TV, Thursday.
He was responding to comments by Tamale North MP, Alhassan Suhuyini, that the NABCO initiative was just a “vote buying gimmick”.
The NDC Parliamentarian who was also on the show, expressed concerns on the ability of the NABCO initiative to solve Ghana’s unemployment issues.
NABCO was not one of the means that the government said they were going to use to provide jobs for the youth, Suyuhini stated.
“This government promised to provide jobs through the one district one factory initiative thus the GH?3bn could be used to create the factories they promised,” he argued.
“This is a light bulb moment idea which did not go through thorough study and can create longtime consequences,” he stressed.
Countering the argument of the opposition MP, Annoh-Dompreh, a member of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), says the government cannot stick solely to the manifesto if there are other options to help the Ghanaian populace.
“What would have been the alternative for these young men and women after their national service,” the Nsawam Adoagyiri MP quizzed.
He said that some of these youth would be idle and engage in social vices that only have negative influences on them and the country as a whole.
“Is it not better for them to start from this platform and gain the experience to build on it into the future?”
He said he was elated this initiative was not moduled like the erstwhile Ghana Youth Employment and Entrepreneurial Development Agency (GYEEDA), Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) and many others that saw the state lose huge sums of money during the administration of the NDC.
“This is not a corrupt deal, the GH?3bn is going straight into the pockets of these Ghanaians,” he stated.
Annoh-Dompreh urged fair criticism of the programme so that the government can make changes where necessary.
“The government is not going to exercise a ‘dead goat syndrome’ and pretend as if nothing is happening when there is a feedback or backlash,” he said.
-Myjoyonline