The number of people, especially young people, without jobs in our country is frightening. Our much-touted economic growth has not translated into jobs and incomes for the people beyond the government propaganda of creating 1.7 million ghost jobs, which even the sector Minister could not find.
The hard truth is that the current size and structure of our economy is not big enough to provide the jobs that are needed. If we want a different result, then we have to do things differently, and we have to do them urgently.
We will forge a strong partnership with the public and private sector to achieve this. This is how we will create the hundreds of thousands of jobs for which the young people of our country are yearning. We will implement a Trade Policy that focuses on job creation for all. This is the only way to break the hand to mouth existence and free our people to aspire to a better life and prosperity. We can do it.
We will encourage Private enterprise by promoting and empowering SMES. Industralisation of our country will create opportunities and decent work for all. We will create jobs in the public sector through infrastructure, agriculture and reforestation.
Free SHS
GOAL: Building an educated society
To ensure that no child is denied access to secondary education, I will remove the biggest obstacles that currently stand in their way: cost and access. In addition to tuition and other costs already borne by government, admission, library, computer, science centre and examination fees will all be free. So will boarding, feeding and entertainment fees, along with textbooks and utilities. In order to ensure equity, day students will also be fed at school free of charge. Free secondary school education will cover Technical and Vocational institutions.
Leadership is about choices I will choose to invest in the future of our youth and of our country. The cost of providing free secondary school education will be cheaper than the cost of the current alternative of a largely uneducated and unskilled workforce that retards our development
The cost of providing free secondary school education, which includes tuition, boarding, feeding and all the other charges for the 2013-2014 academic year, is estimated at some GH¢78 million. A percentage of the oil revenues allocated to the Ghana National Petroleum Company, and for the funding of the budget, as well as a greater percentage from GETFund, will be used to finance the programme.
HEALTHCARE
GOAL: Expanding access to quality health care
The people of this country have to be healthy, if we are to make any meaningful progress in nation-building. Too many Ghanaians die, needlessly. Currently access to good quality healthcare is poor and too expensive. Good quality health facilities are few and definitely inadequate, especially in the rural areas. It has been painful to watch the NDC government try its best to collapse the NHIS, whilst struggling to implement their unrealistic one-time premium promise. The NHIS has been degraded and Cash & Carry is back.
We will revive and restore confidence in the NHIS, bringing public healthcare to your doorstep.. Our goal is to achieve universal coverage of the NHIS for all Ghanaians. The NPP will spend more on public-health education and primary healthcare. We shall expand health facilities and increase the training of health workers; we have done it before and we will do it again.
