A United States-based Ghanaian Economist and Lecturer at Wayne state University, Dr. Sa-ad Iddrisu, is calling on the government to consider providing immediate tax incentives to small and large businesses that are able to hire fresh graduates from the tertiary institutions.
According to him, this will help tackle the current youth unemployment crisis that often force the youth to engage in vices such as armed robbery. Dr. Iddrisu is worried that things may get out of hand if the government doesn’t take immediate actions to arrest the situation.
“Those we may call ‘first time workers’. Government can offer these tax incentives in grade levels, depending on the number of hires by any company”.
However, Dr. Iddrisu lamented the effects of such a policy on government revenue due to decline in corporate taxes in the short run. Yet, he believes, “it can be compensated with income taxes, reduction in crime and increased productivity, thus, GDP in the long run”.
His comments were in response to an armed robbery attack on a bullion van at Adedenkpo near Jamestown, a suburb of Accra, on Monday, June 14 which resulted in the death of a police officer.
GH¢10,000 startup capital for final year tertiary students
Furthermore, Dr. Iddrisu highlighted that another possible solution to the rising joblessness in the country is for government to consider providing startup capital of GH¢10,000 to final year tertiary students for them to start small scale businesses after graduating from school.
“It is obvious that existing companies can’t hire all yearly graduating students from the tertiary institutions in the country. Government needs to offer incentives to fresh graduates to develop a business mindset and be able to start their own businesses. Government can offer all final year students a suggested amount of 10,000ghc or less to start a business after graduation”.
Dr. Iddrisu indicated that this may be dependent on government’s ability to fund it since about 250,000 students graduate yearly from our tertiary institutions. In case of budget constraint, he suggested that the government can offer only a selected percentage of final year students the determined amount as a startup capital.
Meanwhile, he noted that students could apply for this funding by creating business proposals and models which will serve as a prerequisite in awarding the funds. Yet, as good as this sounds, the only question that comes to mind is where will the money come from?
In response to this, Dr. Iddrisu noted that it’s all about priorities and the government should consider the long-term effect of such an initiative on the economy.
“…if we can get money to buy V8 Land Cruisers and pay hefty salaries and emoluments for government officials yearly, then we can get money to fund businesses for graduates who can’t get access to bank loans due to lack of collaterals. It’s all about priorities, and as the saying goes, ‘where there’s a will, there’s a way’. The end result should be to look at the trickle-down effect of this policy on the economy in the long run”.
Neglect of suggestions from the general public
Also, Dr. Iddrisu noted that, elsewhere, nations are built on policies from think tanks, academia, research institutions, and the general public. However, the situation is different in Ghana.
“In Ghana, the story is different. Our country is built with policies from party headquarters’ or the presidential candidates homes where only few friends and family are invited for dinner. We live in a country where government’s refuse to adopt solutions to problems formulated by policy think tanks, academia and others. If you find yourself in parliament, then perhaps you would be taken serious when you propose solutions to a national problem. Even with that, it will depend on whether you are a ‘grade 1 or grade 2’ parliamentarian”.
Moreover, he noted that citizens resort to complaints because the government does not listen to their suggestions as to how to address the challenges facing the country.
“…it’s not that citizens don’t have solutions to offer the government to address the youth unemployment and other crisis facing the nation. It’s a question of whether the government will listen and implement them or the opposition parties will adopt such policies and implement them properly for the development of the country when they win power? That’s part of the reasons why you find citizens resorting to only complaints and demonstrations rather than offering solutions to government”.
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