NPP Denies Promising to Create 750,000 jobs

New Patriotic Party (NPP) members in Parliament on Wednesday denied ever making a promise to create 750,000 jobs in the first 100 days of it coming into power.

This came up when Mr Ken Dzirasah, Second Deputy Speaker and MP for South Tongu, alluded to the issue during his contribution to the debate on the President's message on the state of the nation.

He said the NPP should fulfil its campaign promises to Ghanaians, including the creation of the 750,000 jobs.

Isaac Amoo, NPP Ayawaso West-Wuogon, rose to a point of order and challenged Mr Dzirasah to substantiate his claim because the NPP in its manifesto did not promise that.

The Speaker, Mr Peter Ala Adjetey, asked Mr Dzirasah to prove his point but Mr Dzirasah insisted that Mr Kofi Wayo, the defeated NPP parliamentary candidate for Ayawaso East, said it on a political platform during his campaigns when some big shots of the NPP were present and that the issue had not been denied.

Papa Owusu-Ankomah, Deputy Majority Leader, hammered that it was not an official stand of the NPP and that it was an ordinary member of the party who holds no responsible position.

The Speaker asked Mr Dzirasah to go ahead with his contribution even though the statement might not have come from a person supposed to make a policy statement on behalf of the party.

Earlier, Nana Akufo-Addo, Attorney General and Minister of Justice, in his contribution, said the President's speech was full of hope and spelt out the freedoms the country has to enjoy under the NPP government.

He said it deviates from the earlier known speeches of the previous government where they have to give a number of telephones, roads and schools they have to build and which never were.

"The speech has made Ghanaians safe by seeking reconciliation and to reinforce the democratic institutions like parliament and outline the vision of a goal that would lead to positive change being yearned for," he said.

Nana Akufo-Addo said those describing the statement as empty and so on could not brace themselves for the sheer historic change that is taking place.

Mr Amos Buertey, NDC Ada, stated: "in seeking reconciliation, we should not be seen as raking old wounds that would do no one any good".

He said those suffering from ecological injustice at the Lower Volta Basin following the creation of the Akosombo Hydro Electric Dam should not be left out in the reconciliation package.

Mr Buertey wondered why the existing institutions like the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) should not be strengthened with resources rather than creating new structures, which would also have to be provided for in the face of the current economic situation of the country