Former Trade Minister, Ekwow Spio-Garbrah has said that the over 400 million cedis allocated to the Electoral Commission as funding for compilation of the voters register would to a large extent solve the challenge of youth unemployment in the country if invested in that area instead.
According to him, over 400 factories can be built from such a huge amount, factories which can last for over 20 years and do a great service by providing jobs for the youth of the country.
It is for this reason he believes the idea about a new voters register must be entirely scrapped.
Parliament approved an amount of GHC 443,646,663.00 for the Electoral Commission to enable it compile a new voters’ register ahead of the 2020 presidential and parliamentary elections.
The EC said the compilation of the new register is necessary as the current register is bloated while the existing biometric system is outmoded and expensive to maintain hence the need to go in for a new one at a cheaper rate.
The NDC however disagrees, giving reason that the Electoral Commission’s decision to compile a new register is just an attempt to rig the elections come December 7, 2020.
Speaking in an interview with www.ghanaweb.com, the former minister said describe the move as unnecessary especially when there are equally important areas including job creation that the country is still striving to work at.
“The 400 million they want to do electoral register with, NPP should go round and ask Ghanaians, ordinary Ghanaians, would you like us to give you a new voter’s identification card in your pocket or do you rather we give you a job in a factory that can last to 10 to 20 years? Which do you like? and I can tell you that most Ghanaians, especially those who are unemployed, will chose the factories,” He said.
“With 40 million cedis you can build 400 hundred factories, one million of government seed capital will generate two or three million cedis extra from private business men to support the government’s project. You can generate jobs for our youth.” He added.
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Ghanaweb
