He argued that the government must not halt its activities due to the unavailability of up-to-date employment figures.

[contextly_sidebar id=”v8jucI2bVQuVtBNDqTuKhdciYhR97onk”]Reacting to criticisms that the government had failed to gather accurate data on the country’s employment records to influence its policy decisions, Mr. Kwarteng said “it is wrong to say that because of all these inadequacies, the government is not in the position to design policies to improve the unemployment situation.”

While stressing that the introduction of the National Identification System will help the government accurately determine the labour dynamics in the country, he noted that the government would proceed with the implementation of its plans while it collects the data.

“The strategies to know accurately how many are unemployed and what kind of employment they are looking for is not something we can do overnight and we cannot wait to do all that before we design policies to address unemployment,” he said.

He noted that the government will give the private sector incentives to expand its operations and be able to employ more youth in the country.

“Whilst we take steps to do that, it is important to give incentives to the private sector to expand economic activities… It is important for government itself to see what is given to the private sector in any area, and we will be able to achieve some success by these interventions without having the kind of accurate data we’re talking about,” he said.

‘Employment data to be ready in 3 months’

Meanwhile, President Akufo-Addo has said that the government will provide accurate statistics on the country’s employment statistics within the next three months.

He said the government cannot currently provide comprehensive information on its labour statistics despite claims his government has created some jobs, and is in the process of adding more.

Reacting to a question about the number of jobs the government had created at the second media encounter at the Flagstaff House on Wednesday, President Akufo-Addo said, “the statistics on the jobs…. I am barely one year in office. Some of these statistics are being collected as we speak now so the labour statistics as to the number of jobs that have been created, those are not statistics that are at hand anywhere. Even for the government, I believe that they are in the process of being assembled, so perhaps in 2 or 3 months, we will be in a better position to answer that question in a more effective manner.”

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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Gov’t policies can go ahead ‘without employment data’ – Kwarteng appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Former President Mahama gave an address on the theme: “The economy in the light of elections and conducting free and fair elections.”

In his address, he said the tendency of new governments in Africa to cancel agreements signed by a former government did not auger well for business growth.

He also said politics should be about serving the people of a country and not a do or die affair.

The KEPSA is the equivalent of Ghana’s Private Enterprise Foundation, and is the umbrella body of private business associations and corporate bodies in Kenya and the voice of the private sector.

Mr. Mahama will also be the Guest Speaker at another event organised by Rich Management Kenya on Saturday.

In attendance will be the Kenyan Business Community, Politicians and Academia.

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By: citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Mahama interacts with Kenyan private sector [Photos] appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.