“I am not an expert in Economics and I am not an expert in Law but, I am an expert in working on an empty stomach while wondering when and where the next meal will come from; I know what it feels like going to bed with a headache for want of food in the stomach”.
In an era where things seem to have fallen apart, most Ghanaian youth today can associate with this iconic quote from the Ghanaian spellbinding speaker, the Late Jerry John Rawlings.
It is an undeniable fact that the future of every society rests on the shoulders of its youth, and nature blessing Ghana with abundant resources counting from the minerals to water bodies, arable land, and favorable climate, did not deprive Ghana of this most important resources-a youthful population!
Most of these youth are talented/gifted in their capacities in various ways: musicians/dancers, engineers, lawyers, journalists, and this list is never short of achievers- Nature seems to have some sort of beautiful plans for Ghana. Nature having paid its dues now demands the leaders of our country to lead us to the promised land!
Nature has been fair to Ghana but are the Ghanaian leaders being fair to nature? Are the leaders being Fair to Ghanaians, especially the youth? A significant portion of the Ghanaian Youth can be found in our second cycle and the tertiary cycle of our educational system. At the moment, these youth in the above category are in severe hardship.
For those in the second cycle (SHS), the feeding associated with the free SHS implementation has faced its toughest moment as food supply has reduced due to the inability of the government to fulfill its financial obligations to the suppliers. With the poor quality of education occasioned by a traffic-light-like educational system known as the “double track system”, the food crisis has also imposed its burden on these students and their ability to study.
For the past six years, the woes of tertiary students have been countless and have been worsening as one advances along the ladder. There has been a substantial increase in fees, delay in disbursement of students loan, lecturers going on strike among others. Tertiary educational life has been like hell for the Ghanaian Youth who hails from deprived families.
As if that is not enough, you graduate and as a patriotic citizen, the nation demands your devotion- you need to serve your nation. While serving the nation, you are exposed to risks upon risks. You need to make countless financial adjustments to be able to fit into a society that has countless financial constraints. For this reason, the government provides an allowance to these Youth doing the national service.
After the government raised the allowance for these national service personnel in 2016, no attempt has been made to add a pesewa to this amount. However, transport fares, food prices, utility bills have risen substantially for the past 6 years. The dying reality is that the government’s release of this meager amount of GH₵ 559 has been irregular and poor. As it stands, National service personnel have not been paid for the past 3 months. These people are starving at their respective places of work.
And for a nation that has peptic ulcer as the 32nd leading cause of death, it seems we are prepared to have graves of unaccomplished dreams.
Knowing the pains of the youth of Ghana, I deem it unwelcoming to hear the wife of the vice president in an attempt to resurrect the dead image of her husband informed some Ghanaian youth who are living on the sweat of nations with leaders that “The enthusiasm of the youth demonstrates their hope in the New Patriotic Party as the Party that is committed to the growth and development of the young people in Ghana” in a youth forum in London.
Every 10/10 youth would love to be in London to live in a society where leadership allows the youth to grow in their capacities and Ghana may one day be a land of drained brains. We cannot in an attempt to remind Samira what the ordinary Ghanaian youth is going through forget that, though some of the “boothlickers” and party footsoldiers around her are happy, for most youth in Ghana, this era is hell!!!
Ebenezer A. Affedzie.
Gomoa West,
0543084507)