The rate of unemployment in the country is very worrying, to say the least. Governments have over the years worked to reduce the country’s high unemployment rates, particularly since the establishment of the second republic.
Ghana’s population increased to 30.8 million in 2021 from 24.7 million in 2010, according to the census.
The 2021 population and housing census reported by the Ghana Statistical Service on its website, shows that more than 1.55 million people, or 13.4% of the country’s population are out of work.
Research information website, Statistica, estimated the proportion of people out of work at 4.5%, Bloomberg reported.
If the minimum age of 15 years is applied, the proportion of people without work is 7.8%, the Statistical Service said.
According to their report, the proportion of economically active males aged 15 and older, was 63.5% compared with 53% for females.
These statistics come on the back of global economic crisis and policy decisions of governments, with their accompanying ramifications.
We, therefore, consider any effort from whatever quarters to create jobs commendable. It is on this basis that we wholeheartedly commend the Member of Parliament for the North Tongu Constituency, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, for negotiating a deal to employ some of his constituents.
A post he made on his official Facebook page yesterday attracted our attention. It read, “As Government ends NaBCo today, September 1, 2022, I am delighted to announce that I have successfully negotiated with the Chinese management of Sinostone Bioethanol Manufacturing Ltd. (SBML), located in my beloved North Tongu, to immediately employ all our 97 NaBCo beneficiaries. We shall continue to look out for each other with our best efforts.”
We are not going into the politics of the Nation Builders Corps initiative, because what the MP has done confirms that politics must be seen as a tool for development, whether in power or opposition.
The NaBCo program engaged some one hundred thousand unemployed graduates over a three-year period, with an exit plan.
While some beneficiaries were lucky enough to have exited for other opportunities and others maintained at places of work, there were still some NaBCo personnel who had to go back to their unemployment status, following the end of the program yesterday, September 1, 2022.
We do not have the numbers for those who could not continue working, but our delight is that an MP has thought it wise to come to the rescue of those in his constituency.
This is definitely a worthy course which merits emulation, and it is our hope that others like him will see the need to support their constituents even more.
There are 275 MPs across the country, so if they should each make a step to negotiate for NaBCo trainees in their respective constituencies to secure jobs, it means, as a country, we would have ensured that all the one hundred young people who enrolled in the program will get employed.
We are not saying that the other MPs are not playing their part. We are only citing the case of Mr. Ablakwa as an example to the rest, to continue to support their constituents.
We believe that Mr. Ablakwa looked beyond the fact that it was not his party that introduced the program and that is something our politicians can take a lesson from.
At the end of the day, it is one Ghana we aspire to develop and as politicians who have the mandate of the people, you can only use the power from the people to empower them.
