The Economic Fighters League (Fighters) has called for a fundamental shift in Ghana's economic management, urging successive governments to replace what it describes as a "procurement economy" with an investment-driven development model capable of creating large-scale employment for young people.

In a release on Friday, June 24, by Dr. Fred Otu-Larbi, Head of Strategic Research at Economic Fighters League, the pressure group argued that Ghana's growing youth unemployment crisis requires structural reforms that prioritise investment in people over procurement-led public spending.

It said the country's youthful population should be viewed as a productive national asset rather than an economic burden.

The group notes that Ghana has one of the youngest populations in the world, with a median age of 21.6 years and more than half of its citizens below the age of 25.

Citing data from the Ghana Statistical Service, the group said youth unemployment stood at 32 per cent among people aged 15 to 24 in 2024 and 22.5 per cent among those between 15 and 35 years, warning that prolonged unemployment poses significant social and national security risks.

Untapped human resource

According to the paper, Ghana continues to face critical shortages of teachers, healthcare workers, affordable housing, sanitation services and food production despite having thousands of unemployed graduates and skilled young people capable of addressing those gaps.

It argued that the country's development challenges and unemployed workforce should be linked through deliberate public investment programmes that absorb trained professionals into productive sectors.

The paper suggested that trained teachers could be deployed to underserved schools, unemployed nurses recruited into health facilities and young people engaged in community sanitation and environmental management programmes.

Procurement system criticised

The Research Command attributed the disconnect between development needs and available labour to what it described as a procurement-driven political economy.

It contended that governments have historically channelled public resources into projects with large procurement components because such arrangements create opportunities for inflated contracts, kickbacks and other forms of corruption, often at the expense of labour-intensive investments capable of generating employment.

The paper maintained that programmes focused on wages, skills development and workforce expansion receive less attention because they offer fewer opportunities for procurement-related abuses.

Investment-led growth

The group proposed increased public investment in affordable housing, agriculture, irrigation, food processing, healthcare, education and sanitation as sustainable pathways for creating employment while simultaneously addressing Ghana's developmental challenges.

It argued that large-scale housing projects using locally sourced building materials, expanded irrigation schemes and the recruitment of teachers and nurses could create tens of thousands of direct and indirect jobs across the country.

The paper also criticised the prioritisation of expensive procurement projects over investments in human capital, citing the procurement of electronic tablets for schools despite shortages of teachers in many classrooms.

Call for policy rethink

The Economic Fighters League concluded that Ghana's unemployment challenge stems from structural weaknesses in governance rather than a lack of human resources.

It called for a comprehensive reorientation of public policy towards solving national development problems through investment in people, arguing that such an approach would simultaneously reduce unemployment and accelerate economic transformation.

The EFL stressed that meaningful progress would require governments to prioritise long-term national development over short-term political and financial interests, insisting that an investment economy offers a more sustainable route to inclusive growth and job creation.