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Claim: The Chief Executive Officer of the Youth Employment Agency, Malik Basintale, has claimed that the NDC government has fulfilled all the promises contained in its youth manifesto.
Verdict: False. DUBAWA reviewed the NDC’s 2024 Youth Manifesto and found that although the government has fulfilled or initiated several of the promises, several commitments remain unfulfilled. These include fully implementing the 24-Hour Economy policy, completing all E-Block projects, and ensuring that advance rent payments do not exceed six months, among others.
Full Text
Ahead of the 2024 general elections, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) launched a Youth Manifesto outlining its commitments to young people and the policies it intended to implement if elected. The manifesto contained more than 130 promises covering areas including education, employment, entrepreneurship, housing, healthcare, and economic opportunities for young people.
About a year and a half after the elections, the Chief Executive Officer of the National Youth Authority, Malik Basintale, has claimed that the NDC government had fulfilled all the promises contained in its Youth Manifesto. The claim has been widely circulated on social media, garnering more than 500,000 views across platforms, including Facebook and X. The claim has received over 200,000 views.
In the video, Mr Basintale says, “I can tell you today that the NDC is the first political party to have fulfilled our entire youth manifesto in one year. Everything we promised in there, we have done it.”
Given the significance of the claim and its potential to influence public perception of the government’s performance, DUBAWA subjected it to verification.
Verification
DUBAWA obtained and reviewed the NDC’s 2024 Youth Manifesto and examined the status of the commitments outlined in the document as at August 14, 2026.
The review found that the government has fulfilled or taken steps towards implementing several of the promises. However, not all the commitments have been fulfilled, contrary to Mr Basintale’s claim.
Some of the promises DUBAWA found to have been fulfilled or substantially implemented include:
- Establishment of the Ministry of Youth Development and Empowerment
- No academic fees for Level 100 students
- Free tertiary education for persons with disabilities
- Abolition of the Electronic Levy (E-Levy)
- Abolition of the COVID-19 levy
- Abolition of the betting withholding tax
- Phasing out of the post-graduation teacher licensure examination
- Launch of the Adwumawura programme
- Launch and operation of the National Apprenticeship Programme
- Launch of the Black Star Experience
- Introduction of free primary healthcare, although coverage is being phased in
- Implementation of the Mo-Ne-Yo pension reform program, although coverage is still being expanded
However, DUBAWA also identified several commitments that remain unfulfilled. Key among them include,
Advance Rent Payments
The NDC Youth Manifesto promised to ensure that advance rent payments do not exceed six months.
Although Ghana’s Rent Act provides a legal framework regulating advance rent payments, the practice of demanding long periods of advance rent remains an issue. DUBAWA therefore found that the manifesto commitment has not been fully implemented.
Free Wi-Fi for Public SHS and Tertiary Institutions
The manifesto also promised to provide free Wi-Fi for all public senior high schools and tertiary institutions.
DUBAWA contacted two students of the University of Media Arts and Communication to establish whether free Wi-Fi was available at the institution. Both students said that although public Wi-Fi infrastructure exists, the service was not functional at the time of the checks.
This means the promise cannot be considered fully implemented based on the evidence available to DUBAWA.
24-Hour Economy
Another major commitment is implementing the 24-Hour Economy policy. Although Parliament has passed legislation establishing the 24-Hour Economy Authority, the policy itself has not yet been fully rolled out.
Even though a secretariat was set up, President John Mahama on February 19, 2026, assented to the 24-hour economy bill and indicated that the government’s next step is to move from strategy to implementation. This indicates that the policy is still in the implementation phase and cannot yet be classified as fully implemented.
Completion of E-Block Projects
The NDC also promised to complete all E-Block Senior High School projects.
However, DUBAWA found evidence that some of the projects remain incomplete.
As of Thursday, August 13, 2026, residents of Naro in the Nadowli-Kaleo District of the Upper West Region were calling on the government to resume and complete an abandoned E-Block Senior High School project in the community.
The existence of unfinished E-Block projects contradicts the claim that the government has fulfilled all the promises contained in the Youth Manifesto.
Conclusion
DUBAWA’s review of the NDC’s 2024 Youth Manifesto found that the government has made progress on several of its commitments, with some promises already fulfilled and others at various stages of implementation.
However, several promises remain outstanding, including the full implementation of the 24-Hour Economy, completion of all E-Block projects, the provision of functional free Wi-Fi across public SHS and tertiary institutions, and ensuring advance rent payments do not exceed six months.
Therefore, Malik Basintale’s claim that the NDC government has fulfilled every promise in its Youth Manifesto is false. The evidence shows that, while significant progress has been made, the government has not fulfilled all its promises to the youth.
