[ 2016-11-18 ]

I’m not a magician – Mahama tells unemployed graduates
President John Mahama has said that the
unemployment rate, especially among the youth, is
high because many of the unemployed graduates are
not skilled, indicating that he is not a magician
to put money in their pockets.

The president, who said his government has no
magic wand to put money into people’s pockets,
encouraged the youth to take advantage of
government’s numerous initiatives to make ends
meet.

According to President Mahama, “The fact of life
is that you can only have money in your pocket if
you work and earn it and so there is no magic to
put money into people’s pockets…That is why
government is investing as much as it is investing
to try and provide our people with the skills that
they need to enter the world of work.”

He added, “If you sit at home and you don’t
take advantage of the opportunities, money is not
going to magically appear in your pocket…so what
government is doing is investing to create the
situation so that as many of our people can take
the opportunities as possible; and we are doing
this in all sectors.”

The president admitted making some mistakes in his
administration, but said those mistakes were done
in ‘good faith.’

He said his National Democratic Congress (NDC)
government had created many job opportunities but
the jobs sector lacks skilled Ghanaians to fill
the vacancies.

“There is saturation in some professions that
the economy can take, so they won’t have ready
jobs once they finish their education,”
President Mahama said when he took his turn at the
televised 2016 Presidential Encounter hosted by
Ghana Television (GTV) on Wednesday ahead of the
December 7 general elections.

“Strangely, statistics have shown that many
skilled professionals, particularly in the health,
education and other services sectors, are
currently struggling to find employment and the
president’s assertion appears to be a direct
contradiction of what is on the ground,”
underscored a labour expert who did not want to be
mentioned.

President Mahama used his personal experience to
encourage the youth to add value to their
education so that they become more employable on
the job market.

He said he was a teacher before he branched into
Communication Studies after his first degree and
noted that some graduates need to weigh their
interests in the job market vis a vis what is
available.

He tasked tertiary institutions to introduce more
guidance and counselling for young students to
have a fair understanding of the job prospects
before graduation, adding that currently, the
economy is growing in areas like oil and gas,
engineering, Information and Communications
Technology (ICT), and asked the youth to take
advantage of the opportunities in these sectors.

He described his term in office so far as a
“very challenging” one and assured that there
were “brighter” days ahead.

He commented: “The critical challenge that faces
every leader today is the issue of creating jobs
for young people…we’ve had to make many very
challenging decision points and I believe that
those decision points have been made in the
interest of national progress and
development…you suffer to gain…you don’t get
any good thing without striving for it. We are
going to take Ghana to the next level.

“The heavy lifting has been done. Over the last
four years we’ve done the heavy lifting. We’ve
been involved in building the foundation. These
four years have been foundation laying…and I
believe that in my second term, there is not much
heavy lifting to be done.”

Source - Daily Guide

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