Daily Heritage November 16

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DAILY HERITAGE THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 2017
Govt shocks NDC MPs
with 100,000 jobs
BY BENJAMIN TANDOH
AS PART of efforts
to fix the
canker of unemployment
in the
country, the government
will
soon roll out the Nation
Builders Corps, which will
focus on addressing the problem
of graduate unemployment.
The programme, which will
be a major government initiative,
is expected to hire 100,000
graduates in 2018 who would
be posted to various districts
across the country.
The announcement came
days after the Minority in Parliament
had predicted doom and
insisted that the 2018 budget
would rather impose hardships
on Ghanaians.
The positive implication is
that every district is expected to
provide jobs for 462 graduates
under the Nation Builders
Corps programme.
The job of the
Akufo-Addo government
is to assist the
people with the tools
and the environment
to go out there to
work and earn a decent
living and improve
their lives. We
plan on providing opportunity
for as many
Ghanaians as possible
to initiate projects
on their own
• For graduates in 2018
•From (L-R) Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, Vice President of Ghana, Ken Ofori-Atta,
Finance Minister and Prof. Mike Oquaye, Speaker of Parliament
Presenting the 2018 Budget
Statement and Economic Policy
of Government in Parliament
yesterday, the Minister for Finance,
Mr Ken Ofori-Atta, said
the government is committed
to pursuing an agenda which
will create jobs to improve the
economy.
“The job of the Akufo-
Addo government is to assist
the people with the tools and
the environment to go out there
to work and earn a decent living
and improve their lives. We plan
on providing opportunity for as
many Ghanaians as possible to
initiate projects on their own.
“The government is committed
to pursuing an agenda of
inclusive growth by implementing
strategies, policies, and programmes
to grow and promote
the creation of good jobs at a
much faster pace than ever before,”
the Minister said.
According to the Minister,
the objective of the programme
would be to provide employment
to unemployed graduates,
improve skills and employability,
improve public service delivery,
as well as to improve
government revenue mobilisation.
“Under the Nation Builders
Corps programme, graduates
will be trained and equipped
with the necessary work tools
and deployed around the country
to be engaged,” he said.
13% utility bills reduction
Beginning January 2018,
electricity tariff for residential
consumption will be reduced by
13%, the minister further disclosed.
The minister stated that the
government had reviewed the
tariff setting methodology and
cost structure of power production
and proposed the reduction
to the Public Utilities
Regulatory Commission.
“On the basis of these interventions,
if government recommendations
to PURC are
accepted, consumers will be expected
to benefit from reductions
in electricity tariffs,” he
said.
The reductions in electricity
tariff as contained in the 2018
budget are Residential – Up to
13%, Non-Residential – 13%,
Special Load Tariff- Low Voltage
– 13% ,Special Load Tariff
-Medium Voltage – 11%, Special
Load Tariff -High Voltage
On the basis of
these interventions,
if government recommendations
to
PURC are accepted,
consumers will be
expected to benefit
from reductions in
electricity tariffs,”
he said.
– 14%, High Voltage Mines –
21%.
Infrastructural
Development
In order to ensure infrastructural
development, the government
is set to introduce the
Akufo-Addo Programme for
Economic Transformation to
accelerate investment in all sectors
of the economy.
In his address, Mr Ofori-
Atta indicated that the programme
“will modernise
agriculture, improve production
efficiency, achieve food security,
and increase profitability for
our farmers.”
According to him, there
would be significant investments
in the road and rail sectors
of the economy under the
programme, which, he explained,
would facilitate trade
and the movement of goods
and people in the country.
He added that the government
will enhance the role of
the private sector in the provision
of infrastructure through
Public-Private Partnership
(PPP), saying, “a new PPP bill
has been prepared and submitted
to Cabinet for approval and
once passed by Parliament, it
will be followed by the relevant
regulations.”
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