Dr Mathew Opoku Prempeh, Vice Presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), affectionately called NAPO, has said former President John Dramani Mahama is to blame for the escalation of unemployment in the country.

He said former President Mahama, during his tenure as Vice President and President between 2008 and 2016 failed to initiate and implement policies and programmes that could have created employment opportunities for the youth.

Failure to create these employment opportunities exacerbated the unemployment situation and led many young people to be frustrated.

Speaking to party supporters during a campaign tour of the Offinso South Constituency, Dr. Prempeh said Mr. Mahama has resorted to propaganda in his campaign.

He said every Ghanaian knew the employment situation during the eight-year rule of NDC and pointed out that, if the NDC government prioritised job creation Ghana would not be grappling with the current situation.

Dr Prempeh said the government under President Akufo Addo had since 2017, created about 2.3 million job opportunities for Ghanaian youth.

The government had also worked to enhance the price of cocoa from GHc 475.00 in 2016 to GHc 3,000.00 and this was enticing the youth to venture into cocoa production and other agricultural businesses.

He said the Agenda 111 Hospitals initiative, the expansion of the educational sector would all help to create employment avenues for many Ghanaians.

Dr Prempeh said the NPP government had placed premium on education, healthcare, job creation, and infrastructure development, and would continue in that direction in the next administration.

He called on the people not to yield to what he called “the propaganda and lies of the NDC” and continue to support the NPP to retain political power to continue with its national transformation agenda.