Is The National Youth Employment Programme A Source Of Empowerment Or A Mere Election Strategy?

Ghana’s two leading political parties, the NDC and the NPP, have failed to provide sustainable employment opportunities for the youth. Instead of building lasting job solutions, they continue to roll out short-term, low-paying job schemes that neither improve living conditions nor offer long-term career prospects to the youth of this country.

These so-called interventions often raise more questions than answers. How much are these young people being paid? How long do they work before being laid off again? What skills or opportunities for growth do these jobs provide? The reality is that most of these schemes are nothing but election baits meant to score political points rather than solve Ghana’s growing unemployment crisis.

Rather than invest in national industrialisation and manufacturing as Dr Kwame Nkrumah envisioned, successive governments have chosen to dismantle and privatise the very factories that once gave our nation hope. Even with a smaller population back then, Nkrumah built industries that created jobs. Today, with a much larger population and a more educated youth, we’re being offered internships, national service extensions, and “special modules” that lead nowhere.

This is not just a policy failure but a deliberate political strategy. By keeping the youth dependent on temporary, government-sponsored jobs, the ruling class ensures that young people remain vulnerable and easily swayed during election periods. It’s a calculated form of economic control disguised as empowerment. Truly, this is the purpose of these temporary jobs modules, if you ask me.

But here's a crucial question we must all ask: Do the very politicians who roll out these job modules engage their children in them? If these modules are beneficial enough, why don’t their children take part? Why are their sons, daughters, and close relatives sent abroad or offered secure, prestigious jobs, while the rest of Ghana’s youth are left to fight over unstable, temporary positions that offer no career growth or security? Our youth must think about this and begin to demand proper and permanent job opportunities from our politicians. Politicians must create job opportunities that guarantee development, dignity, and real benefit for both individuals and the nation.

Ghanaian youth deserve better. They need jobs with dignity, security, and a future, not handouts. The government must provide real investments in agro-processing, manufacturing, technology, and value addition. Let’s hold our leaders accountable and reject short-term gimmicks dressed up as solutions to the current unemployment situation we have in the country.

It's pathetic to see the number of youth who queue to find jobs during the security urgencies recruitment process. This tells us there are several people out there without jobs, and even others are in schools yet to graduate and join the search for jobs. The government sector is becoming choked, with many being employed but having no specific job role. This is why the government must revamp and rejuvenate the factories and industries across the country to accommodate the teeming unemployed youth in the country.

The future of this country rests in the hands of its youth. And we must no longer allow ourselves to be used as pawns in a broken political game.

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