The solution to Ghana’s unemployment situation lies with small and medium-size enterprises, says President Nana Akufo-Addo
According to him, the grim story of youth unemployment has been “a tragic part of our lives for far too long.”
To help in addressing the challenge, President Akufo-Addo, in his opening address at his second media encounter at the Flagstaff House in Accra on Wednesday, said “we are creating the atmosphere for the private sector to grow quickly, and to encourage our young people to look for opportunities in areas other than the public sector.”
“The solution to the unemployment crisis lies with small and medium-size enterprises that employ three, seven, 15 and 50 people, and with large-scale industrial enterprises that employ people in their hundreds and thousands,” he added.
He recounted appalling situations where thousands of young people applied for jobs of which barely few of them were accepted.
Such scenarios are being played out in all sectors of the public service: Some 84,000 people applied for jobs at the Ghana Immigration Service, and over 47,000 met the minimum requirement, but only 500 people were recruited.
Also, the Ghana Revenue Authority also advertised for various categories of staff. Some 59,991 responded to the advertisement, out of which 20,177 met the requirements, but the available vacancies were 350.
The recent recruitment exercise in the Ghana Armed Forces went along similar lines. Some 26,032 young people applied to be enlisted into Other Ranks; 21,073 of them qualified and were shortlisted. The number to be taken to start training later this month is 1,800. Also, the Police Service recruitment exercise tells a similar story. Some 158,734 young people applied, and 79,909 of them met the requirements, and financial clearance has been given for 2,000 of them to be taken into the service.
However, the President gave the assurance that more jobs would be created through the various employment creation intervention being undertaken by his administration.
“We going to banish the spectre of desperation and restore hope to the youth,” he said.
By: Fred Gadese-Mensah/adrdaily.com
