Unemployment continues to be the biggest worry of our dear nation, and as it stands is clear that no government the country will have will tackle this challenge to the core alone. Since 1992, all governments have had bad performance or failed to resolve the unemployment canker and are unable to effectively tackle it in a manner that will improve the lives of Ghanaians.
What political parties or governments in Ghana called job creation have always been under-employment, and only party foot soldiers and gives room for propagandistic show off to be little the opposition by then. Politicians deliver sweet talks during campaigns, and we all know them to be political talks because almost every government has failed to fulfill its promises given to the people. These job creations are still not what the youth want because they do not earn anything meaningful to take care of themselves and family. The government cannot tax them, and use them for developmental projects because these youth are under-employed.
Since 1992, the government of Ghana has given tax waivers or holidays to foreign start-ups in the country to help them recoup their investments before paying taxes. Many local businesses cannot compete with these foreign conglomerates because they have their capital to operate, and topmost of it, they have been given tax holidays by the governments of the day. Reports from the news also indicate that some of these foreign nationals maltreat their employees who are Ghanaians, yet the government does little or nothing about them.
Governments are known for using the creche of “creating an enabling environment for local and foreign businesses to thrive” to confront the unemployment among the youth, but reality shows that this statement is a façade. Recently, Ghana has heard of attempted coups often, and even some planning of organizing coups, and the citizens shiver. The country has enjoyed political stability for a long time, and it is hard to say that anything can disrupt our peace. It is public knowledge in Africa and former coups in the country that the youth are organizers of coups.
We also pretend to be ignorant that coups are supported by the unemployed in a country. There is a national consensus that the country does not want a coup, and Ghanaians enjoy the political stability we enjoy now, but that does not mean that the unemployment in the country would not be solved.
The kind of unemployment in the nation now without any political propaganda is a proactive catalyst for the political insurgency. Almost all the coups that have ever happened in the country were governments mismanaging funds, or the youth were angry at the rate of unemployment at a time. The likes of Afrifa, Akufo, and Kutu-Acheampong were all below the age of forty when they organized a coup with Late President Jerry John Rawlings, Boakye Djan, Nkrabeah Effah-Dartey, Courage Quashigah, and their counterparts who organized the June 4 Revolution were in their late twenties and early thirties.
The youth is the backbone of every country, and for a country to have a sustainable future means that the young people in a country are being developed and no unemployed citizens can be much patriotic to their country. Former President Mahama stated that many young people in Ghana would retire from unemployment, but he has also forgotten that during his time in government unemployed graduates in the country formed an association. Demonstrations are springing up to show the youth dissatisfaction in the country, yet politicians fail to curb the unemployment canker and use it as political propaganda.
Boys go into armed robbery, and girls go into prostitution because of the lack of employment. Youth in the country cannot have meaningful life because they lack what will make their lives meaningful. Every Ghanaian enjoys political stability in the country, but the youth are on their knees pleading that the government should not use this as a way of not solving the increasing rate of unemployment in the country.