Friday, 29 March

Bagbin or Haruna'll be my running mate – Duffuor

Politics
Haruna Iddrisu (L) and Alban Bagbin (R)

Former Finance Minister Kwabena Duffuor has confirmed his interest in becoming president of Ghana.

He said if given the nod to lead the National Democratic Congress (NDC) as flagbearer for the 2024 election, he would choose either Speaker Alban Bagbin or Minority leader Haruna Iddrisu as his running mate.

“I was a finance minister, so, I was in politics but we have not started talking about the NDC presidential race yet. If we get there and I’m given the nod, why not?” he said in an interview on Accra-based TV3 about his presidential ambition.

Asked who he would select as his running mate, Dr Duffuor said: “There are two people who are doing very well in politics; they are lawyers. Look at Bagbin; almost 30 years in politics. Look at Haruna also, any of them either Haruna Iddrisu or Bagbin could be my running mate, they’re working hard, they’re in politics, they will compliment me.”

Meanwhile, Dr Duffuor has said focusing on Technical and Vocational Training (TVET) will be pivotal to reducing unemployment in Ghana.

At a lecture on the theme: ‘The Ghanaian Dream; Transforming the economy through job creation and opportunities for all’ held at the Tang Palace on Monday, 29 November 2021, the former Governor of the Bank of Ghana said: “The neglect of technical and vocational training over the years might have contributed to the high unemployment and rising poverty among the youth”. 

“Many of them lack basic job skills”, he observed.

In his view, “high youth unemployment and prevalent skills gaps within the labour force underline the necessity for vocational and technical education”. 

As far as he is concerned, “Ghana must place TVET education in the centre of job creation strategy to successfully address the high youth unemployment”.

According to him, 20% of the employed population have had no formal education while 54% have basic education and 16% have higher education.

“Not only does unemployment cause poverty but higher crime rates”, Dr Duffuor said. 

He noted that children with “unemployed parents don’t do well academically”. 

Also, he noted that the “inability to create good jobs and gain sustainable jobs for the young people will foster the problem of inequality”. 

“It’s also an issue of gross economic inefficiency”, he said.

“Although the officially measured rate of unemployment is about 8.4% as of 2017 and there’s a concern for young people’s access to decent employment, without a transformation of the current economic structure, employment opportunities will remain limited,” Dr Duffuor pointed out.

 

 

Source: Classfmonline.com/Emmanuel Mensah