Johnson Asiedu Nketiah, the National Chairman of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), has stated that the party’s job-creation promises do not mean automatic government appointments for all young people, stressing instead that the party’s focus is on skills training and entrepreneurship support.
Speaking to supporters in the Nandom Constituency on Wednesday, May 20, 2026, he said youth unemployment remains the country’s biggest challenge but cautioned against what he described as a widespread misunderstanding of the party’s campaign message.
“It is true that when we were campaigning, the biggest problem in the country then and is still the biggest problem now is youth unemployment. So we promise that when we come into power, we will implement initiatives that will address the unemployment issue,” he said.
He added that some supporters had wrongly interpreted those promises as assurances of automatic public sector jobs.
“Some of you have interpreted that to mean that everybody will be given an appointment letter to work in government service. Please, that is not what we mean,” he said.
According to him, sustainable job creation depends on equipping young people with skills and capital to start their own businesses rather than expanding government employment.
“What we mean is that when a country is growing, it gets to a point where other means of employment become more rewarding than government work,” he said.
“So what the government does is to train the youth in their talent, their respective talents, and provide them with facilities and seed capital to start businesses that will grow the economy.”
He stressed that the government cannot realistically absorb all unemployed youth into the civil service.
“But we seem to be thinking that if you are not given a government appointment letter, then you don’t have employment. Please, it is not going to be possible for the government to write appointment letters for every youth in the country,” he said.
He pointed to planned interventions, including apprenticeship and entrepreneurship programmes.
“That was why when we were campaigning, we told you that you don’t need a certificate to be able to work. And so we will implement policies like the free apprenticeship program, like the entrepreneurship program, the youth in enterprise program, and then we will implement the 1 million quotas program,” he added.