A Communication Director and Spokesperson of the United Party, Solomon Owusu, has said that most young people taking part in military recruitment exercises are not genuinely interested in joining the armed forces but are driven by the urgent need for employment.

Speaking on the JoyNews AM Show on Thursday, November 13, Mr. Owusu said the government must address unemployment, which he described as the root cause of the overwhelming response to recruitment exercises.

“We have been lackadaisical. We have not been truthful to ourselves as a country. Corruption is the manifestation of some of these things,” he said.

He added that official claims of job creation have not matched the reality on the ground:

“You will remember, year in and year out, be it NPP or NDC, what we have been hearing is that we have created 2 million jobs, 3 million jobs, 4 million jobs. If these numbers were indeed true, we would not be experiencing the kind of numbers that poured out to take part in military recruitment. I have looked at a number of them, I have interviewed some of the prospective recruits, and I can tell you that they are not interested in the military," he said.

Mr. Owusu emphasised that the lack of jobs is the main reason for the high turnout:

“The only motivation there is that they do not have jobs. That is the only motivation. And they see it as an avenue or a stepping stone to put body and soul together. That said, it means we have to be serious. We must stop politicking and go into the nitty-gritty of why governance… Year in and year out, see the amount of money that is stolen from the kitty that could have bettered the lives of these people.

See how we invest those monies, our priority areas, look at what has been going on at the Public Accounts Committee. Billions of cedis are always thrown out when we could have used it to better the lives of these young ones. ”

He criticised the focus on statutory jobs, such as positions in the military and police, noting that these roles do not expand the economy:

“If you are employing people into the military and then the police service, you are not giving any jobs. These are statutory jobs that will always be there. That does not expand any economy. But yet, that is where we are fixated. I understand 4,000 people are going to be recruited, yet they sold 60,000 forms. So clearly, 56,000 of them would have lost their money—the money they used to pay for their forms—yet they will not find their way into the military. So it must be a learning,” Mr. Owusu said.

He welcomed the Finance Minister’s promise to focus on job creation but warned it must go beyond rhetoric:

“I’m very happy the Finance Minister says he is going to focus on job creation. It must not be lip service. There must be an actualization of that, and that will mean we must expand the base of the Ghanaian economy. We have been doing a guessberg economy for far too long, relying on gold and cocoa every now and then. That does not give us much; meanwhile, we have all the solutions,” he said.

Owusu concluded by urging the government to implement serious economic reforms and job creation initiatives to reduce desperation among young people, ensuring that recruitment into the military is driven by genuine interest rather than unemployment.