Mobile Phones Dealers Association in Koforidua in the New Juaben South Constituency of the Eastern region has kicked against the initiative of the Vice President and flag bearer of the New Patriotic Party NPP Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, to sell mobile phones to the citizens.
The Mobile Phones Dealers Association comprising phone wholesalers, retailers, phone repairers, and phone swappers on Friday 9th August 2024 declared their support for the flag bearer of the National Democratic Congress, John Dramani Mahama, saying the Vice President’s intention to sell mobile phones to Ghanaians undermined their phone business and intended to collapse their businesses.
The Association made the revelation at the time the National and Regional Youth Wing of the National Democratic Congress NDC embarked on door to door campaign in the New Juaben South Constituency and engaged Spare Parts Dealers and Fitting shop Operators at Koforidua Magazine, Timber Market Workers, Mobile Phone dealers as well as students at Universal Hostel of Koforidua Technical University.
The Chairman of Koforidua Mobile Phone Dealers Association, Mubarak Osmanu, channeling their grievances to the National and Regional Youth Wing of the NDC led by George Opare Addo (Pablo), said, “The Mobile Phone Dealers Association in Koforidua said I should tell you that they declare their support for John Mahama, comparing the ongoing campaign of both parties”.
“Things are difficult under Nana Addo’s government and we are suffering, most of us used to be NPP members but we have now changed our minds and will now vote for John Mahama and the NDC’s parliamentary candidate, Dr. Martin”.
He continued, “Please when they vote for you (referring to the NDC) never disappoint them, even if you provide capital to invest in our businesses we will be grateful for that. We also want our members to have access to the MASLOC loans. We are suffering, we can’t take care of our wives and girlfriends, so we want John Mahama to win and come and help us that’s why we will vote for him”.
“John Mahama built this station and a toilet for us but now they want to evacuate us because they have sold the place to somebody, we will resist it but we want John Mahama to come and help us. When John Mahama wins we want him to register all our members by giving them identification numbers so that we can work peacefully without any intimidation by the police”, Mubarak Osmanu added.
“More importantly, our Nigerian brothers are taking over our businesses so we want John Mahama to help address it”, he appealed to the NDC National Youth Organizer.
The NDC National Youth Organizer, George Opare Addo, touted the 24-hour economy initiative as a game changer targeting to create jobs for the youth to help reduce unemployment in Ghana.
Highlighting some specific policies the NDC intends to implement for artisans and SMEs when elected into government, George Opare Addo said, “We have a lot of master craft men without certification because they did not have formal education in the craft they learned. There are several opportunities for them. For instance, the FPSO hires welders and staff to work under it”.
“You may find a master welder, a master mechanic, or a master electrician, who know their job well but lose out on vital employment opportunities because they have no formal educational qualification. Such obstacles demoralize them”, Pablo emphasized.
“We are going to work with NVTI through TVET to certify such professionals and give them certification after they go through a certain program, the program is to assess their competencies and once we believe their competencies are good then we give them prior learning certification”, George Opare Addo clarified.
The door-to-door campaign is a collaborative effort by the NDC National Youth Executives and the Regional Youth Executives targeting the youth in the New Juaben south and north constituency of the Eastern region.
