Politics
Ghana’s unemployment rate is at all-time high – Mahama
Former President John Dramani Mahama has stated that Ghana’s unemployment rate is currently at an all-time high.
According to him, the current jobless rate is 13%.
Mr Mahama made these remarks during a speech at the Academic City University College’s graduation ceremony over the weekend.
The flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to the graduating students that “We left the university gates and walked into ready jobs waiting for us. There was automatic posting if you wanted to go into teaching. Many of us were retained and absorbed into workplaces where we had been posted for National Service.
“Our colleagues who made first class were quickly snapped up by prestigious banks and private corporations like UAC, Lever Brothers, now Unilever, and Standard Chartered Bank as management trainees.
“Fortunately, or unfortunately for you, the world is entirely different today. Climate change is creating forest fires in the northern hemisphere and pushing temperatures to historic highs. The coral reefs are dying; the polar ice is melting. Africa is facing either droughts or incessant flooding. The Sahara Dessert is drifting southward, threatening us with an ever-drier climate.”
He added “Ukraine and Russia are at war. Sudan is in a civil war. There are many conflicts all over Africa. Terrorists have taken over the Sahel and are threatening to push down to the West African coast.
“There are no ready jobs to absorb you. It may take years for you to find decent employment. There are cases of students who remain unemployed five years after completing university. Unemployment in Ghana is at its highest in history today, estimated at 13%. Our economy is in crisis. The closure of indigenous banks and the banking sector cleanout have led to the loss of several jobs.
“A Debt Exchange Programme has led to massive haircuts, eroding the capital of Ghanaian entrepreneurs, the income of middle-class families and pensioners’ savings.
“Our democracy is at risk with confidence and trust in leadership at its lowest ebb. But it is not all doom and gloom for you. You have laptops and tablets with more extensive storage and are faster than any computer in our time. You have numerous search engines that put the world of knowledge at your fingertips. But best of all, you are not stepping out of an Ivory Tower.
“Over the years, universities have adjusted their curricula to integrate them and make them more relevant to the societies in which they exist. One such institution is Academic City University College. An innovative Centre of learning that equips its students with practical knowledge that allows them to be instruments of societal transformation wherever they are employed. ”
Politics
OccupyJulorBiHouse: Organisers’ derogatory depiction of the presidency is reprehensible – Richard Ahiagbah
The New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) Communications Director, Richard Ahiagbah, has voiced his concern with the disrespectful captioning of the Jubilee House by leaders of the pressure organisation, Democracy Hub.
The organisers of the scuttled demonstration in Accra on Thursday, Democracy Hub, had dubbed the protest to occupy the precincts of the seat of government, Jubilee House, #OccupyJulorBiHouse, with ‘julorbi’ being a parody of the official name of the presidency in the Ga language, which loosely translates as ‘the child of a thief’.
Mr Ahiagbah, who backed citizens’ freedom to demonstrate, disagreed with the disparaging portrayal of the presidency.
“I don’t agree with the derogatory caption of the Presidency by the organizers of the demonstration, but impeding their right to peaceful assembly is an affront to democracy, plain and simple.”
The NPP Communications Director pointed out that there have been numerous peaceful demonstrations during President Akufo-Addo’s presidency, including the Arise Ghana demo and the Kume Preko demo, which he said did not record such events as happened on Thursday, and wondered why anyone would think the government was behind the disruption of Thursday’s demonstration.
“This is not the publicity we need on a day such as this…Allow!,” he said, in apparent condemnation of the police action.
He highlighted that the Ghana Police Service’s meddling and arrest of demonstrators who took part in the #OccupyJulorBiHouse movement is a violation of the people’s rights.
Mr Ahiagbah stressed in a post on Thursday, September 21, that “the people’s ability to engage in peaceful demonstrations is an inherent democratic right.”
Any action that prevents persons from enjoying this basic freedom, in his opinion, is just wrong.
According to Democracy Hub, the rally was held to stress their demands for lower living costs, an end to corruption, and improved governance, among other things.
However, in the early hours of Thursday, September 21, police detained 49 protestors, accusing them of unlawful assembly and violating the Public Order Act.
The detained individuals ignored court documents filed on the organisers, Democracy Hub, to prevent them from carrying out the scheduled rally.
Prof Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang, the National Democratic Congress (NDC)’s 2020 running mate, has responded to the arrest of #OccupyJulorBiHouse activists.
It is undemocratic and useless, she claims.
The former Education Minister stated on Twitter that the police should have engaged the demonstrators rather than arrest them.
As a result, she has supported demands for the demonstrators to be arrested immediately.
https://x.com/NJOAgyemang/status/1704832264251601273?s=20
Several demonstrators were detained and escorted to the Regional Police Headquarters, including Fix The Country chairman Oliver Barker Vormawor.
They were detained in the early hours of September 21 for violating a police order prohibiting the march.
The Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, has voiced grave worry over the growing number of coups on the African continent.
He links these military takeovers to nations’ difficult economic situations, which resulted in the deposition of democratically elected governments.
Otumfuo Osei Tutu II spoke out strongly against military coups as a solution to Africa’s issues during the St. Andrews Africa Summit in Scotland.
He emphasised that, regardless of the circumstances, armed takeovers are not the solution.
“Let me make it categorically clear that regardless of the circumstances, I do not think that a military takeover offers the solution to the problems of our continent. There was a time when circumstances produced the notion that the gun was the solution, those times are over. We are in completely different circumstances now. The critical problems confronting Africans’ economy from North to South, East to West, the burden is the economy,” the Asantehene said.
Several African nations, including Niger and Gabon, have undergone coups in recent years.
The most recent event happened in Gabon on August 30, when military soldiers took control and proclaimed the annulment of election results that had pronounced President Ali Bongo the winner.
The announcement of the Electoral Commission generated suspicions of fraud by the opposition.
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