One of Ghana’s finest economists, Dr. Kwame Pianim has described Ghana’s increasing unemployment rate as a threat to the country’s economic development. He admonished the government to solve the menace of unemployment which results in professionals leaving the country’s shores to work in other countries.
According to the Economist, the government must find proper means to explore and utilize the country’s natural resources to create employment opportunities to benefit Ghanaians. He argued that Ghana’s major problems are ineffective policies and leadership deficits.
“When you take the resources that we’ve been blessed with and in 2024 the human skills that we have is unimaginable. We have maybe 350,000-400,000 Ghanaian professionals, technocrats, engineers in the diaspora; these are all people when the economy starts moving in the right direction and they come home they will add value to the economy”.
Dr. Kwame Pianim
Dr. Pianim further assured that there is hope for Ghana’s economic growth if leaders contribute to the country’s development cooperatively. He stressed that policies by the government must be transformational and not damaging as is usually the case in Ghana.
Subsequently, lecturer of Economics at the University of Ghana, Dr. Prince Adjei, also stated that the objective of the government must be to mitigate the impact of unemployment and to bring inflation to the barest minimum.
He stated that though the government was able to create some employment within its first term of office, more steps must be taken to solve the issues of youth unemployment.
Dr. Prince Adjei indicated that the International Labour Organization (ILO) has projected that Africa will have a youth spurt in a few years to come. He argued that having the majority of Africa’s, and therefore Ghana’s, population unemployed may result in an increased level of social vices.
Governance And Economic Policies
According to Dr. Kwame Pianim, Ghana’s biggest governance issue is the size of the government. He asserted that Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia would deliver on his promise to cut down the size of government if he is elected as President in the December election.
He urged Ghanaians to give Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia a chance to serve Ghana as President and stressed that Dr. Bawumia has proven himself, in his role as the Vice President, to be the best person to lead the development drive of the country.
Moreover, Dr. Kwame Pianim revealed that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) started the implementation of the 24-hour economy in the 2000s but the project failed due to security reasons.
He argued that the 24-hour economy policy of the NDC is impractical as the country can barely produce electricity to cover an eight-hour shift. “You know 24-hour economy, I don’t understand, what is it? Where are we going to get electricity for three shifts?” he questioned.
“We don’t have details…there’s nowhere in the world where there’s a 24-hour economy. Even in New York, there’s a 24-hour economy at Times Square only. People need a place where it is quiet and where they can sleep… There is a 24-hour economy where? A special place so in Ghana you can create a 24-hour economy somewhere. I don’t want the 24-hour economy next door to me because I need to sleep…to be able to go and work”.
Dr. Kwame Pianim
More so, the Economist suggested that more details must be provided regarding the 24-hour economy initiative by the NDC. He argued that what is important is that the policy is good and not who formed the policy. He stressed that a good policy can be implemented by whomever regardless of who formulated the policy idea.
Dr. Pianim stated that the central objective of the 24-hour economy is good because it moves Ghana’s economy from taxation to production. He stressed that the policy can only reach full implementation if there is a stable supply of electricity.
He also revealed that the Kuffour administration from 2000 to 2008 failed to implement a production-led economy because the government had failed to properly evaluate what is needed to sustain a production-driven economy.
As the 2024 General Elections approach, the flagbearers of both the NDC and the NPP have been on a mission to convince Ghanaians of their policies as the best to solve Ghana’s economic problems. While there is a long list of issues Ghanaians want addressed, the issue of unemployment has been on top of that list as youth unemployment remains a societal challenge.
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