The Joblessness Homelessness and Hopelessness of the Youth Cannot Be Taken Lightly Speaker to MPs

Speaker of Parliament, Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, has expressed grave worry over the exponential increase in the rate of youth unemployment faced in Ghana in recent times.

According to the Speaker of Parliament, the escalating youth unemployment in the country is nothing to be desired as citizens and lawmakers, thereby calling for an immediate solution to the test.

As a concerned citizen and the third gentleman of Ghana, he bemoaned that the current levels of joblessness and homelessness among the youth in Ghana could incur significant and potentially dangerous repercussions in the upcoming December 7 presidential and parliamentary elections.

Giving his address in a Parliamentary sitting on Wednesday, June 12 2024, Hon. Bagbin expressed the need for an immediate and conclusive action from the political leadership to tackle the compelling need.

He said, “The joblessness, the homelessness and the hopelessness of the youth cannot be taken lightly. We must act together and now to prevent a journey to calamity or to a journey of no return.”

In a publication onthe youth unemployment rate in Ghana, it is revealed that, in the year 2023, the youth unemployment rate in Ghana remained nearly unchanged at around 6.68 percent.

However, in an address to Ghanaian youth at the newly inaugurated Youth Resource Centre in Koforidua in the Eastern region, the flag bearer of the ruling New Patriotic Party, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia indicated there was an urgent need to address the plethora of obstacles facing Ghanaian youth including rampant unemployment, exorbitant data, hindering internet accessibility, among others.

The Vice President had outlined a number of interventions to tackle the youth employment which will enhance access to quality education, and empower young Ghanaians for a prosperous future.  

The former President also stated that, the 24-hour economy is the antidote to Ghana’s perennial test of unemployment.

The speaker of Parliament maintains that, drastic measures must be taken by the government and the various stakeholders in solving the canker of unemployment.

Kobina Darlington/