Vice President hails job creation in the country

Accra, Oct 6, GNA - Vice President John Dramani Mahama said on Wednesday that government would be prepared to cooperate with investors and other development partners to support the youth to create jobs rather than always seeking them.

"Our main challenge in the country now is that, the teeming graduates are always interested in gaining employment in the public sector, without taking advantage of the available opportunities in the system and we are ready to partner, individuals or organizations that will help them create their own jobs."

The Vice President said this when members of "AMICUS", a Ghanaian based social group, accompanied by Mr Chris Gardener, a renowned entrepreneur and Prof Michael Haye of the London school of Business, called on him at the Castle, Osu, to outline their activities in the country.

The group, which had been engaged in the areas of health, education and youth development, would in the next few days, hold lectures on job creation and youth empowerment in the country.

Vice President Mahama said over the years, deregulation in the communication sector had led to establishment of numerous communication companies in the country with a resultant increase in job opportunities for university graduates and other professionals.

"Government will be more than pleased to partner organizations to help our youth to be job creators, rather than job seekers."

He said if the government was able to train the youth in job creation it would stem the exodus of Ghanaian professionals to other countries. Vice President Mahama said the government had so far progressed in five Millennium Development Goals, but still behind in maternal health, sanitation and infant mortality and called on them to find a way of collaborating with government to enhance the chances of those goals before 2015.

Mr. Bernard Akumba Asomaning, leader of the delegation, said apart from setting up a mobile clinic in the Central Region, they would also work out modalities that would encourage the Ghanaian youth to establish their own enterprises.

He said they would also work around the clock to strengthen basic education to serve as the base for quality education in the coming years.

Mr Gardener said although this had been his first trip to Ghana he had identified some potentials that could be harnessed to further empower the Ghanaian youth to take their destiny into their own hands to become self-reliant. He called on Ghanaians to take advantage on the serene business advantage in the country to advertise their achievements, not only to attract more investors, but to encourage the existing ones to improve on their performance to meet the demands of the competitive market. 06 Oct 10