The Member of Parliament for Ledzokuku in the Greater Accra region, Dr. Okoe Boye, has reiterated the resolve of the Akufo-Addo administration to buoy up the private sector as the mainstay of economic growth.

He says a country with double digit inflation and economic deficits such as Ghana currently grapples with has a huge difficulty creating jobs for its youths, however the government will ensure that the economy is reinvigorated and the youth provided the needed skills to function appropriately.

Dr. Okoe Boye, guest speaker at the 37th graduation ceremony of the EKGS Culinary Institute in Accra, said what the government needs to do is to equip the youth with practical skills so the youth can become potential employers rather than white collar job hunters.

“It will take a lot of people off the streets”, he said, adding that “until the last man on the street is skilled, no one in the society is safe” from social vices.

He commended the 105 graduands for acquiring such skills as cake making and decorating (sugarcraft), pastry art, cookery arts and floral décor for which they were awarded certificates, but cautioned them that while they had acquired skills and knowledge none could take away from them, they were not enough for success in the world of work.

Dr. Okoe Boye asked them to add what he called three critical ingredients – humility, honesty and optimism – in order to succeed, explaining that while skills and knowledge would bring them customers, it would take humility to keep them, and in optimism, they should have hope and conviction that in spite of all the challenges they may be confronted with, they still could emerge the best in their chosen vocations and be famed for it continent-wide if they persevered. And they should avoid cutting corners.

Hospitality industry deserves government support Mrs Efua Otuwaa Goode-Obeng Kyei, Director of EKGS, called on government to extend its scrapping of taxes it called nuisance taxes to the hospitality industry, saying the culinary sector for instance, if given the needed support, could be very key in addressing the unemployment conundrum facing the country as it offers young people functional skills.

She said tools of the industry usually attract hefty import duties which in turn serves as a disincentive to potential entrepreneurs “who are scared away by the high cost tools and equipment needed to set up.”

The EKGS director also called on the government and state agencies to discourage the unbridled importation of goods, including sub-standard ones and those that could be produced locally so as to engender productivity and job creation, saying that when local industries produce more, they employ more people and pay more taxes to the government and thus boost the economy.

She congratulated the graduands for completing their training and asked them to be determined, hard-working, and tenacious and seek God’s guidance as the world of work and the road to success, far from being rosy, are strewn with challenges and impediments.

“You have been given all you need to face every challenge and I urge you to dig deep into your reservoir of ideas to make it wherever you find yourselves,” she counseled.

Source:graphic.com.gh