Deputy National Organiser of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Joshua Hamidu Akamba, has criticized the Akufo-Addo led government for publicly announcing the monies due beneficiaries of the Nation Builders Corps (NABCO) programme.

According to Mr. Akamba, the paltry amount due the beneficiaries is a shame and should not have been made known to the public especially because the beneficiaries are university graduates who deserve better adding that the GHS700 salary for the employees ridicules the value of a tertiary level certificate.

President Akufo-Addo, on Tuesday launched NaBCO, which will employ, in this year alone, 100,000 young men and women to assist in the public sector service delivery needs of Ghana.

According to President Akufo-Addo, “NaBCO will be the vehicle to deliver one hundred thousand (100,000) jobs in seven (7) prioritised areas, defined as the following modules: Educate Ghana; Heal Ghana; Feed Ghana; Revenue Ghana; Digitise Ghana; Enterprise Ghana; and Civic Ghana.”

Explaining the rationale for the establishment of the Corps, President Akufo-Addo noted that the grim story of youth unemployment has been a tragic part of the lives of Ghanaians for far too long in Ghana, worsened, in recent times, by the ban placed on public sector employment by the International Monetary Fund.

The NDC after the launch of the programme by the President has said NABCo offers no new plan to create jobs but a duplication of the Youth Employment Agency (YEA).

Adding his voice to the many criticism from the NDC, the Deputy National Organiser of the NDC; “NABCO is a 419 agenda. It’s a scam because the NPP (New Patriotic Party) promised Ghanaians they were going to give them permanent jobs. This one— is it permanent job? Is that not scam? Is that not deceit to Ghanaians? You said in one year, Ghanaians would have good jobs, working in factories, working in companies, one million dollars would hit our constituencies and graduates would get jobs. That is what gave Ghanaians the confidence to vote the NPP in,”

“The NPP have decided that they will take Ghanaians for fools. Go and ask Nana Akufo-Addo how much he is paid [and see] whether he would like to say it. Go and ask him how many allowances he takes [and see] whether he would like to say it. Graduates that you want to employ, you’ve already put their pay together and mentioned that they are collecting Gh¢700.

“Imagine that early in the morning, you dress up and you are going to work as a graduate; every little kid in the street knows that you are going to be paid Gh¢700. Is it not a shame? Who in this country wants his pay to be known? It’s nasty. You cannot embarrass people, play with their minds and take them for granted. They lied to Ghanaians and succeeded. They didn’t suffer for power. If they had suffered for it, they wouldn’t be handling Ghanaians this way,” added Mr. Akamba.