Ghana’s Unemployment Rate Rises To 32.5 Percent Under Akufo-Addo Is A Shame Arise Ghana Jabs

At a crowded press conference held in Accra today to outline the current rising cost of living under the government of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the leadership of the Arise Ghana stated that "Today, the rate of Ghana's unemployment has risen to an all-time high, having moved from 6% in the year 2017 to a staggering 13.5% as at 2021.

According to the coalition, President Akufo-Addo has failed Ghanaians, adding that the economy continues to wallow in the doldrums, with all economic indicators nose-diving while Government looks on helplessly.

The coalition pointed out that the Cedi’s free-fall continues unabated as a result of the failure of the Government to translate its rhetoric into action, saying that "Today, the Cedi trades at about Eight Cedis, 50 pesewas to the US Dollar."

It asserted that the continuous depreciation of our national currency against its major trading partners continues to wash away the profit margins and in most cases, the capital of many businesses and traders who depend on forex exchange to import vital goods into the country. 

This situation, according to the coalition has further aggravated the alarming rate of inflation the nation is presently experiencing.

"Even more worrying is the alarming rate of joblessness and hopelessness in the country, especially among the youth. Today, the rate of unemployment has risen to an all-time high, having moved from 6% in the year 2017 to a staggering 13.5% as of 2021.

"Indeed, our dear nation is presently in a deep economic mess. The country has lost access to the international capital market due to our unsustainable debt position. Our Public debt has increased to unprecedented and unsustainable levels from GHS120 billion cedis to over GH¢391.9 billion cedis only in the last five and half years," it noted.

This, according to the coalition means that at a minimum, this government alone, since 2017, has added a whopping Ghc271.9 billion to the national debt stock, with a chunk of this going into consumption.

It noted that the debt to GDP ratio has galloped from 56% in 2016 to about 80% as we speak, while our debt service burden has moved from about GH¢ 14 billion cedis as of December 2016, to a whopping GH¢ 50 billion cedis.

It stressed that this economic situation which is our worst performance in the history of this Fourth Republic has worsened our creditworthiness and dampened investor confidence in our economy leading to our worst ever downgrades by reputable sovereign credit rating agencies such as Moody’s and Fitch.

"Simply put, our beloved Ghana is broke and this is a direct product of the bad leadership, insensitivity, misplaced proprieties, and gross economic mismanagement of the present Akufo-Addo/Bawumia administration.

"While wages of the Ghanaian worker remain static, with almost all labor unions up in arms over poor wages in the wake of worsening economic hardships, the Akufo-Addo/ Bawumia government continues to impose killer and draconian taxes on the already burdened taxpayer. 

"The recent passage of the obnoxious E-levy and its subsequent implementation remains yet another slap in the face of the Ghanaian people. Never in the history of our country has a government behaved so obstinately in imposing a draconian tax measure on its citizens, despite loud public outcry. Government’s subsequent use of judicial shenanigans in an attempt to defend the illegal imposition of this E-levy remains yet another clear demonstration of how desperate and callous they are State capturing and land grabbing," it stated.

"Distinguished friends from the media, one of the cardinal, yet regrettable legacies of President Akufo-Addo and Alhaji Bawumia remains the unprecedented levels of state capture we are witnessing today. The practice of state capture under this government has assumed such alarming proportions that the God-given resources of this country that are supposed to benefit present and future generations are being utilized by only a few greedy families, friends, and cronies in government today.

"One of the most bizarre, yet brazen displays of state capture has manifested itself in the unpopular decision of this Government to Monetize our mineral resources in perpetuity under a fraudulent scheme dubbed “Agyapa” for the benefit of a select few," it added.

It hinted that "It initially gladdened our hearts that the Ghanaian people spoke in unison against this organized heist called “Agyapa” and forced the government to suspend same. We are however mortified to note that despite the public outcry over this deal, the  NPP/Akufo-Addo government is headstrong and is seeking to reintroduce the “Agyapa” deal as recently announced by the Finance Minister. We wish to serve notice that this latest attempt to reintroduce the unpopular “Agyapa” Mineral Royalties deal shall be defeated, as we shall resist the same with everything within us.

"We daresay that you, like many Ghanaians, were surprised by recent reports of a certain E. I 144 which seeks to declassify portions of the Achimota Forest as no longer a Forest Reserve.

"Well, as the saying goes, coming events cast their shadows, and indeed recent events have now given out the real motive and intent of the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia Government relative to this matter of the Achimota Forest Reserve. As we now know, President Akufo-Addo and his land grabbers in government were only hiding behind a certain historical claim by one Owoo Family to appropriate the Achimota Forest Reserve, nature conservation of huge environmental importance to all of us, among themselves.

It has now emerged through some leaked portions of the Will of the late Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie, aka Sir John, a former CEO of the Forestry Commission, that elements within the Akudo-Addo/Bawumia Government have already shared lands in the Achimota Forest Reserve among themselves.

It added that Indeed, portions of the lands are contained in the leaked Will Document making the rounds. This is a tragedy of national proportions and we condemn it in no uncertain terms. To imagine that the Achimota Forest, one of the few surviving nature reserves in Ghana, would become another subject of the state capture of President Akufo-Addo and his cabal of buccaneers in Government breaks our hearts greatly.

"Friends from the media, portions of the late Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie’s Will reveal several prime lands, including those at the Achimota Forest and the Sakumono Ramsar Site that the late CEO of the Forest Commission acquired within a very short stint in Government, which he, in turn, willed to his relatives before his death.

"These revelations are but a microcosm of the scale and magnitude of grabbing and plundering of state lands and other resources by President Akufo-Addo and functionaries in his government in a manner akin to the conduct of pirates on the high sea.

"Distinguished friends from the media, corruption remains endemic and pervasive under President Akufo-Addo and Alhaji Bawumia who have turned themselves into the greatest enablers and promoters of same," the coalition noted.

It contended that "despite being the most resourced government in Ghana’s history, this government has wasted all the unprecedented revenues that have accrued to them totaling about GHS500 billion mainly through profligacy and corruption.

At the risk of sounding monotonous, it stated that it bears reminding that corruption scandals such as the BOST scandal involving the illegal sale of five million liters of contaminated fuel to dubious entities, the Australian Visa Fraud Scandal, the Galamsey Fraud Scandal, the PPA Contracts for Sale scandal, the PDS scandal, the Missing Excavators scandal, and the most recent Sputnik V Scandal remain unresolved instances of daylight heist that President Akufo-Addo has either turned a blind eye to or whitewashed the perpetrators.

It stated that all attempts to demand accountability for the use of Covid-19 funds continue to be suppressed by President Akufo-Addo who has effectively doused the flame of accountability, saying that there is little wonder therefore that corruption is at an all-time high under this current regime.

"Even more bizarre is the fact that at a time when the majority of Ghanaians are suffering and experiencing excruciating hardships, President Akufo-Addo continues to travel in ultra-luxurious and hyper-expensive private jets at high expense to the already-impoverished Ghanaian taxpayer just to satisfy his creature comforts," it stressed.