The Member of Parliament for Bosome Freho in the Ashanti Region, Nana Kwame Asafo Agyei Ayeh, has expressed deep sorrow over the tragic incident recorded at the El Wak Sports Stadium, where six young women lost their lives during a stampede at the military recruitment exercise.

Describing the tragedy as “unfortunate and heartbreaking,” the MP said it was painful that the victims died while simply seeking job opportunities and hoping to serve their nation through the Ghana Armed Forces.

Hon. Asafo Agyei Ayeh made the remarks on the floor of Parliament during the debate on the 2026 Budget Statement presented by the Minister for Finance, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson. He paid glowing tributes to the deceased and called on the NDC government to fast-track its job creation initiatives to address the rising challenges facing young people in their quest for secure and sustainable employment.

The Bosome Freho legislator criticised the budget presented by the Finance Minister, describing it as “a sham,” and accused the government of failing to deliver on several key commitments made in the 2025 budget.

According to him, allocations such as GHS 300 million for the National Apprenticeship Programme, GHS 100 million for the Adwumawura Programme, and another GHS 100 million for the Digital Jobs Project (DJP) were all announced but never materialised.

He argued that the failure to release these funds dashed the hopes of many young Ghanaians who looked forward to opportunities under the government’s job creation agenda.

Touching on the government’s flagship 24-Hour Economy initiative, Hon. Asafo Agyei Ayeh said the government claimed to have allocated GHS 4 billion to support the programme in the 2025 budget. However, the 2026 financial statement shows that only GHS 110 million was released, representing a mere 3.92% of the stated allocation.

He insisted that this clearly demonstrated the government’s lack of a concrete job creation plan for the youth.

The MP further condemned the government for what he described as a misplaced priority, allocating GHS 292 million for sanitary pad distribution while committing only GHS 100 million to youth skills training and job creation.

These revelations, he said, showed that the NDC government was more focused on distributing sanitary pads than investing in meaningful job opportunities for Ghana’s young people.

Source: Oyerepafmonline.com/Okogyeabour Ocran