K. B Asante: Government officials must shut up and deal with unemployment menace

Renowned diplomat and statesman, K.B. Asante, says it is about time politicians focused on dealing with the unemployment situation facing the country instead of focusing on unnecessary arguments on radio and television.

K.B. Asante explains that politicians today only focus on talking and thinking about winning elections and how to score cheap political points rather than tackling the real issues confronting the nation.

“Now it appears all we are doing is working towards the next elections; to be elected to power, we do not channel our efforts towards the developmental issues in the country,” he added.

According to him, Ministers and government officials should stop talking to radio and television stations and instead concentrate on issues of national importance.

K.B Asante was commenting on the high unemployment rate in the country especially among graduate students on Dwaso Nsem on Adom FM on Monday.

The renowned Diplomat emphasized that leaders must sit down and come out with concrete proposals and policies to deal with unemployment.

He stated that Ghana’s educational system is not the reason for the high unemployment but the failure of the nation’s leaders to create enabling an environment for employment.

He said in years past, people never held MBAs and other high qualifications but they were able to plan very well for the country’s education sector.

Also commenting on the same topic was Divine Nkrumah, the Coordinator and Leader of the Unemployed Graduate Association of Ghana (UGAG), a non-partisan organization, who said successive government had failed in creating the necessary conditions for the private sector to develop.

“The NDC government and the erstwhile Kufour administration have failed the youth of this country and continue to subject the young graduates of this nation to undue deprivation of better job opportunities,” he said.

He revealed that there are about 650,000 unemployment graduates in the country and said that meant a bona fide negligence and a disappointment on the part of the government of the day.

Divine Nkrumah said in the past, unemployment was within the ranks of only illiterates but today, it has affected JHS and SSS leavers adding that it was quite sad that tertiary graduates have also become vulnerable to this syndrome.

“It is not astonishing that the nation is currently grappling with the unfortunate situation of street hawkers, “Sakawa”, prostitution, armed robbery and other social vices which have also contributed to overcrowding on the resources of the cities,” he stated.

He warned that very soon, they we are going to hit the streets if the government fails to produce strategies to resolve the unemployment issue.

The Labour Commission of Ghana estimates the number of unemployed graduates at over 700,000 and it comprises graduates who studied from Archaeology to Zoology.

Story: Samuel Mantey/ Adom News/Ghana