New Patriotic Party (NPP) flagbearer hopeful Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum has unveiled an ambitious strategy to combat poverty by ushering in what he calls a “golden age of jobs” powered by Information Technology (IT).
He emphasized that Ghana’s economic transformation depends on a renewed national urgency to eradicate poverty.
Addressing party delegates and supporters, Dr. Adutwum stressed that no political promise can be meaningfully achieved without first resolving the country’s economic challenges.
“If you do not have the urgency to eradicate poverty, you cannot do any of your other promises,” he insisted.
Referencing Ghana’s current minimum wage of 19.97 cedis per day, he noted that the figure falls below the World Bank’s poverty threshold of three dollars per day.
“If in a day one is not paid 33 cedis, the person is poor. Our minimum wage is below the poverty line. This is sad,” he stated.
He described the situation as a troubling paradox, where many Ghanaians remain impoverished despite being employed. “We have a lot of people working in this country, but they are poor — the working poor,” he added.
Dr Adutwum drew parallels with the United States, explaining that America’s declaration of a “war on poverty” helped catalyse its economic growth. He believes Ghana can chart a similar path by aggressively expanding technology-driven job creation.
“When we talk about the war on poverty, we are talking about creating employment for our university and tertiary graduates by setting up IT hubs for processing, app development, software engineering, and data entry,” he explained.
He cited India as a country that adopted this strategy and has become globally competitive in technology services.
Dr. Adutwum said his vision includes establishing cybersecurity opportunities to strengthen Ghana’s digital defence, noting that this sector alone could create thousands of jobs. “The defence of Ghana needs cybersecurity more. We have to find ways to protect our data from being accessed. This space could create lots of jobs for our graduates,” he said.
He added that such IT-driven initiatives would not only create local employment but also open pathways for skilled Ghanaians to work abroad. To achieve this, he emphasised the need for a comprehensive manpower needs assessment to guide job creation efforts.
“I will create the golden age of jobs. Anyone can do IT jobs,” he declared confidently.
Dr Adutwum’s message centred on a single theme: building a modern economy based on technology, innovation, and skilled human capital to lift millions out of poverty.
