Convener of the OneGhana Movement and Trustee of the Ghana Coalition Against Galamsey, Senyo Hosi, has expressed deep concern over youth unemployment in Ghana, particularly in light of the ongoing security services recruitment exercise.

The Minister for the Interior, Muntaka Mohammed-Mubarak, revealed that although about 105,000 young people out of over 500,000 applicants have successfully qualified for the medical stage of the recruitment, only 5,000 positions are currently available.

Commenting on the matter on Newsfile on JoyNews, Mr Hosi bemoaned the situation.

“Where is the realisation of the liberties and prosperity — the very reason we created this form of governance, which we call democracy under the 1992 Constitution — when we have 33.4 per cent of our youth unemployed?” he asked.

“Our employed people in this country, over two-thirds are vulnerably employed, with no social protections around any form of employment. So, in real terms, there is almost no employment. The youth who are properly employed are just about 21 per cent,” he added.

“That is why you look for 5,000 spaces, and you have 500,000 people applying. And even that number could have been higher because many could not afford the GH¢200 application fee,” he noted.

“Our whole labour force stands at around 15 million, and they say two-thirds are not properly employed. What does that really mean? When we look at the youth population and their contribution, my brother, we are sitting on a time bomb,” Mr Hosi warned.

He emphasised the scale of the challenge, saying that if he were president, he “wouldn’t be able to sleep” knowing the frustration and disappointment faced by so many young people vying for limited positions.