I Can’t Put Cash In Your Pockets Says Mahama

President John Dramani Mahama has told Ghanaians that they cannot feel the positive effect of what he called the growing economy in their pockets because many of them lack the skills to harness the opportunities the economy is creating.
He added that those who were also expecting him to personally fill their pockets with money were requesting for the impossible because “as the leader of the nation, I cannot personally go round the length and breadth of the country putting money into people’s pockets.”
The president, who was visiting the Volta Region on day-three of his ‘accounting to the people’ tour, made the comments yesterday during an interview on GBC’s Volta Star Radio in Ho, the regional capital.
The interview preceded activities for the last day of his tour of the region.
His comments run counter to what he said in February this year when he commissioned a Community Day Senior High School at Nyanoa-Kwaobaah in the Upper West Akyem District of the Eastern Region.
The president, at that event, reacting to public complaints about the harsh economic climate, openly and confidently promised, “When I win the second term then we will start putting money in your pockets.”
He said his first term in office was focused on infrastructural development and job creation across the country. Hence, in his second term Ghanaians would feel the economy in their pockets because his government would put money in the pockets of the people.
The major challenge facing the economy is unemployment, with thousands of graduates roaming the streets for non-existent jobs as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) places a freeze on public sector employment.
U-Turn
However, barely two months after this assurance, President Mahama has made a U-turn and told Ghanaians that they can feel the economy in their pockets – fill their pockets with money – by taking advantage of the opportunities that abound in the ‘flourishing’ economy.
The president, who was answering questions posed by Volta Star’s Kafui Kumaga, said “…The thing is, if you say ‘feeling it in your pocket’ it doesn’t mean that the president is going to come from place to place and count money and give it to everybody to put it in his/her pocket. The economy will provide the opportunities, but it’s for the people to take advantage of it.”
No Skills

He observed that many Ghanaians seem to lack the requisite and adequate skills to benefit from the opportunities he has created in the economy. He said “…when you talk about the economy, what the economy does is, it creates opportunities for people, and so you would envision that as the economy grows, it throws out natural jobs that people can take advantage of.
“…But if you do not have the skills, or you do not have the capacity to take advantage of a growing economy, then you will not feel it in your pocket.”
He therefore cited some economic opportunities to buttress his point. They included a rice production hub in the Southern Volta Basin and the story of one Godwin at Asutuare who is producing rice on a four-hectare field.
He then encouraged the youth to venture into cocoa and coffee production where he said the government was providing free seedlings, inputs and agricultural extension services.
Don’t Be Idle
President Mahama then urged Ghanaians not to be idle and waiting for him to put money in their pockets, saying, “But if everybody is sitting with his hands crossed and saying that: ‘Oh, but if they say the economy is growing, why am I not feeling it in my pocket?’ you need to get up and take advantage of the opportunities that the economy is creating and that is how money comes into your pocket.”
He assured that his government would continue to assist young people with the skills they needed through the Youth Employment Agency (YEA) Programme to access the available opportunities.
The YEA, previously known as National Youth Employment Programme (NYEP), created by the Kufuor administration, was reactivated this year under a new name, with some National Democratic Congress (NDC) activists milking it dry in various scandalous schemes.
After the interview, the president went to commission the second phase of the Ho-Fume road.
The first phase, which is from Ho to Vane, was completed by the then NPP government before it left office while the second phase, which starts from Vane to Fume, was completed by the governing NDC.He then interacted with the market women at the Ho Central Market, inaugurated an engineering laboratory at the Ho Polytechnic and cut the sod for work to begin on the Juapong to Abutia road which was commissioned by the NPP but was abandoned after it had left office.