Maybe dread is even a milder description. I am afraid of shaking the hands of Professor Aryeetey on my day of graduation. As a matter of fact, the thoughts about graduation makes me feverish.
Graduation is the proudest moment of every student. The family proudly watches on, whilst beautifully dressed and gowned to look the most intellectual amongst your graduating class, you heroically walk towards the Vice-Chancellor (in my case, Prof. Aryeetey) and other dignitaries to receive a glorious handshake as the reward for your years of rigorous academic work. The praise, celebrations and once-in- a- lifetime proud and happy family moment begins. BEAUTIFUL! Isn’t it?
But I insist! This day and the glorious handshake makes me sick. Now let me cure your confusion.
The handshake from the V.C signifies to me one thing, and one thing only. I am ready for the job market. But the question I have always aggressively prodded in my mind and soul is: IS THE JOB MARKET READY FOR ME?
The private sector first. Since the new cancer (corruption is the old) of the state called ‘DUMSOR’ resurfaced some three years ago, businesses have been crippled. Retrenchment has become the new fashion in the business world, and no one can fault them as they have to stay afloat. If giants in the market such as Coca-Cola, Mantrac, Cadbury Ghana, Fan Milk etc. are struggling and laying off workers in their hundreds- some of whom are breadwinners- how much more the man who operates a mill at the corner of a market, or the barber who has set up a shop by the street or the cold store operator – which we collectively call Small scale and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).
Coupled with this cancer is the high cost of doing business. Interest rates are around a whopping 31% and mind you, all sort of taxes have been slapped on businesses. Fuel which is now crucial for already dying businesses because of ‘DUMSOR’ is now the target for raking in more revenue by way of taxes by the government. Businesses which will give us the jobs are shrinking, and sadly, some have already folded up. The environment for business is the exact opposite of congeniality.
The public sector now. There is a freeze on government employment except for the health and education sector, and except someone dies or retires and there is the need for replacement. The frightening bit is the retrenchment of some workers in 2017, as part of conditionalities attached to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) agreement entered into by the government. You can now guess the unemployment that will be created from now to 2017.
Now this is where my dread for Prof. Aryeetey’s handshake stems from.
After shaking hands with the VC, symbolizing the end of the 4-year academic journey, is this the Ghana waiting out there for me? Am I going to roam the streets looking fruitlessly for a job? What opportunities exist for me to establish my own trade, and even if they exist, will this unfriendly business environment empower me succeed?
You may not fully appreciate my frustrations, maybe because your dad is rich and can definitely pull some strings for you, or you may be on the next available flight immediately after graduation for a better life outside, or perhaps through intense bouts of prayer and fasting, Gods unlimited favor secures you a job. But this population will always be a microscopic few compared to the tens of thousands churned out every year from all tertiary institutions in Ghana. What then becomes of our fate? This is where I become extremely bitter from the very core of my being for such RECKLESS and INSENSITIVE management of the country by the government, and for plunging us into such HOPELESSNESS.
I totally refuse to be a part of the popular or if you like, the unpopular Unemployed Graduates Association of Ghana, or sit at home with the couch as my office and the TV remote control as my pen after years of combing the whole of the city,fruitlessly, looking for a decent job or trying to start a business.
BUT THEN, WHERE ARE THE JOBS?
WHERE ARE THE OPPORTUNITIES?
The writer, Jonathan Asare is a last year student of the University of Ghana. He can be reached via mail at [email protected].
– See more at: https://www.myjoyonline.com/opinion/2015/July-24th/thoughts-of-a-legon-student-i-dread-prof-aryeeteys-handshake.php#sthash.1bHYGXWM.dpuf
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