<<Print>>

Presidential Candidate for the Independent People’s Party (IPP), Mr. Kofi Akpaloo has pooh-poohed the State of Nation Address presented by President John Dramani Mahama on Thursday February 25, 2016 Parliament.

According to him, it is patently clear that the President Mahama and the NDC government do not regard the issues confronting young Ghanaians as significant and urgent to attract attention in the speech of the President.

“In his speech, the President did not present a single plan devoted to improving the lives of Ghana’s youth…the President’s State of the Nation Address made it patently clear that the NDC does not regard the issues facing young Ghanaians as significant or urgent”, he chided.

Speaking to Peacefmonline.com, Percival Akpaloo lamented saying “it is alarming, that in a country where the population is largely made up of young people, that the President would not devote a significant portion of his speech, to this sector of society”.

“This shows a President that is not only completely out of touch, but simply does not care about young people. The President and his NDC sees young people, as voting cattle, and not as a sector of society whose views need to be taken seriously and needs catered for”, he jabbed.

He added that millions of Ghana’s young people look up to the President to provide certainty and hope for the future as young Ghanaians yearn for bold, innovative, comprehensive and workable plans to move the country forward; emphasizing that the President’s speech sadly provided none of these for the young people.

“I am sure that it has become clear, even for NDC voters, that the only way in which a better Ghana will be achieved is not only when President Mahama is gone, but also the whole of the NDC. There is no messiah that will suddenly bring change to the NDC. It has repeatedly shown resistance to moral reforms, and so it is now time to vote it out of power”, he asserted.

He stressed that the spectrum of poverty haunts Ghana’s children before they even leave the womb as half of the young people live in poverty.

He however maintain that the poverty is experienced not only as a form of financial deprivation, but also a lack of access to basic services, healthcare, quality education and protection from crime.

He therefore outlined the IPP’s Six Point Plan for Job creation as an all-encompassing plan, which if implemented, will not only create employment, but also result in:

1. Increased investment in energy, transport and ICT;
2. Give more people education and skills;
3. Providing child and unemployment benefits to generate demand activities.
4. Providing direct incentives for job creation; and
5. Creating a nation of entrepreneurs.
6. Investment in de-facto national ID which is linked to residential addresses to create a credit economy.