Unemployment has been identified as the biggest challenge the Mahama led administration has to tackle, according to Dr. Obed Yao Asamoah, a former National Chairman of the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC).
Dr. Asamoah believes the unemployment situation is precarious and needs “urgent attention,” he said in an interview with Citi News.
According to him, every period in Ghana’s history had a peculiar challenge the leaders had to deal with and tested the competence and leadership abilities of the president at the time.
[contextly_sidebar id=”f5qrMPXLad1LusAPQwxg4Nzx7G0RwIhy”]“…When Nkrumah came we were getting independence and it was a period of Africanization, raising the required personnel that would run an independent country was the priority, so he sent some Ghanaians abroad to fill these vacancies… when we came during the PNDC era, the shops were empty and what we needed to do was to fill these shops but President’s Mahama’s main problem today is unemployment even amongst graduates” he explained.
He asserted that a dissatisfied youth without hope and full of “despair” is dangerous for the country.
His call comes on the heels of a similar one made by a former National Security advisor Brigadier General Nunoo Mensah.
For the two time chief of defense staff, Ghana risks another uprising if the unemployment situation which is breeding poverty is not improved.
Dr. Obed Asamoah is also livid over government’s inability to reduce the number of people without jobs in the country and opined that there are lots of avenues that can be explored in that direction including tourism.
“Take tourism for example this is a labour intensive area that can generate lots of jobs for the teeming of the country.”
When asked why he hasn’t been brought on board to share some of these ideas with the current administration.
He insisted it is up to the appointing authority to act.
Ghanaians are not hard working enough
The former attorney has also lamented what he considers to be the unwillingness on the side of the Ghanaian, to work hard and reap the benefits.
“Hard work and honesty is a huge problem here in Ghana, we are not prepared to make the right sacrifices, we are prepared to enjoy without putting the hard work required for such enjoyments,” he said.
To him a certain amount of “discipline and regimentation” is needed for the country to develop.
This is because the lack of hard work is even reflected in our spending pattern.
He also believes the Ghanaian is more interested in consuming foreign products when local industries are dying.
A situation he fears may grind the country’s foreign goods dependent economy to a halt.
By: Raymond Acquah/citifmonline.com/Ghana