Payroll full comment: Stop the sloganeering and create sustainable jobs – Government told

Bernard Oduro Takyi, the Regional Coordinator of the Commonwealth Alliance of Young Entrepreneurs – West Africa, says government cannot create the impression that the public sector payroll is full “when the alternative is scary and has no hope.”

He is therefore urging government to find practical ways possible to create sustainable jobs for the teeming young people of the country, saying “Sustainable jobs creation and promotion of Conscious Entrepreneurship must not be an extension of political sloganeering and lip-service. That is not the culture of Entrepreneurship, entrepreneurship is a journey of more action and less talk.”

In a statement issued in Sunyani to the media, Mr. Oduro Takyi blamed the growing rate of unemployment in the country on what he described as “poor political leadership” and called of the President to rise up to the challenge.

“Money indeed is on the street not in books. All over the world the current educational system that produces products of pen pushers with non-negotiable quest for white colour jobs has been the headache of the world”, he explained.

The former Presiding Member for Sunyani West Municipal Assembly said unemployment indeed is a national security threat in Ghana, adding that “one will not be far from wrong to call for scrapping off the Ministry of Employment or rename it Ministry of Unemployment.”

No jobs syndrome

“It is becoming increasingly alarming on daily basis the teaming youth who have the passion, energy, skills and intellect but can't find lucrative jobs. Whilst I do think and accept that the 21st century is the era of Youth Entrepreneurship and Self-employment, I equally assert that the current Government of Ghana used sloganeering to lure people ONLY for Political power both in 2016 and 2020," he stated.

He explained that entrepreneurship is best practiced “when it is grounded in local content approach. All problems are local. Any Government that wants to push the agenda of Youth Entrepreneurship must resort to Indigenous Entrepreneurship mechanisms."

According to him, “Local Government structures like the Unit Committees, Area/Town/Urban/Zonal Councils together with the District/Municipal/Metropolitan Assemblies must be used to identify real and potential business persons who possess the local understanding to creating jobs with local content approach.”

Fairness

He cautioned that this approach must be devoid of skewed partisanship and selective discrimination, adding that “we must look at scalability of ideas, potential to grow and Impact, business skills and financial management. This approach must be underpinned by Education & Skills upgrade, Mentorship, Grant approval, Loans with no interest rate, Foreign trips sponsorship for experience gathering and most importantly facilitating of ready market.”

Mr. Oduro Takyi noted that entrepreneurship is a deliberate pursuit not a kneel-jerk and quick fix slogan.

“All countries that have resorted to Youth and Indigenous Entrepreneurship to curb growing and alarming youth unemployment did not do so through sloganeering but through calculated, concerted and deliberate pursuits. Entrepreneurship is not a talk shop rather it is walk shop.

“Whilst I will like to encourage my fellow young people to take our destinies into our own hands and pursue the path of less threaded upon, the Government as the safety net provider must not look at the easiest way to shirk its primary responsibility of ensuring sustainable job creation.

“Whilst we agree that the public sector payroll is full we do also accept the backdoor recruitment of the sons and daughters of the less privileged must cease. Again, the profligate and stupendous expenses by the Government must cease. The Government of Ghana must pursue modesty and run a lean Government that will make resources available to support the course of Youth Entrepreneurship," he emphasized.