|
Dr. Sam Jonah Makes My
Day... and shames the doomsday politicians
By Dr. Michael J.K. Bokor
Monday, February 15, 2016
Folks, it is true that "times are rough"
throughout the world as governments find it
difficult to provide the "heaven-on-earth"
that the citizens need to live their lives
in decency and comfort. Nowhere cool in the
world!!
Within this context, it is difficult to side
with Ghanaian politicians who are constantly
rabble-rousing to create disaffection for
the government of the day as if when given
the chance they can do anything better. In
this Fourth Republic, particularly, evidence
outweighs any wishful thinking and
narrow-minded partisan politics being done
on the basis of "Whie wo asetena mo na tu
aba pa" (the NPP's catch phrase). What has
characterized the electioneering campaign
for Election 2016 is taking on a bizarre
quality on that score to be pooh-poohed.
We note that the overall living situation in
Ghana under Rawlings wasn't the best for the
populace as it wasn't under Kufuor too, even
though his NPP had won political power at
the 2000 Presidential run-off on the basis
of its bitter criticisms against the
Rawlings administration and won the support
of the minority political parties to uplift
Kufuor.
To his credit, though, Kufuor initiated
measures aimed at solving pertinent problems
but which couldn't be sustained when
attention shifted to the very development
projects that he had led the NPP gang to
condemn Rawlings over. The obvious
inadequacies of his administration and many
other factors gave the NDC the chance to
rebound to power under the late Atta Mills
whose "Better Ghana Agenda" took off in a
whirlwind fashion and had more focus on
development projects than policies and
programmes to alleviate the immediate
existential burden (job creation and
remuneration) facing the people. (Of course,
job creation should be the preserve of the
private sector, supported by the
government).
President Mahama has sustained the agenda of
development projects and incurred the anger
of those who think that there is more to
life than development projects can provide.
Many have either lost their jobs or become
despondent, creating room for the wily and
vile politicians to manipulate them for
selfish ends.
The corps of Ghanaian youth are particularly
hurt. We know of the concerns of the
graduates from the tertiary institutions who
can't land jobs. Their concerns aren't
without foundation: the job market
(especially in the public sector) isn't
expanding to absorb them, which calls for
innovative measures toward the private
sector. But who is doing what?
The NPP under Akufo-Addo has been
instrumental in the agenda of negative
politics against President Mahama's
administration on that score, creating the
sordid impression that Ghana is doomed if
the incumbent's mandate is renewed at
Election 2016. They are hell-bent on
condemning, calumniating, and jeopardizing
anything and everything coming from
President Mahama without providing any
alternative to Ghanaians on how they will do
things differently to solve the very
problems that they are highlighting in their
electioneering humbug.
Interestingly, Akufo-Addo is asking
Ghanaians (especially those in the Western
Region that he is currently interacting
with) to pray for the hardships to be
eliminated. To him, prayers are the
solution. What a dunce?
Out of the blues, something new has cropped
up to ponder: "The Chancellor of the
University of Cape Coast, Dr. Sir Sam Esson
Jonah, has called on Ghanaian graduates to
sharpen their minds and employ out-of-box
thinking to provide jobs for themselves and
others.
According to the business magnate, it is a
well-known fact that the unemployed graduate
phenomenon has become part of the country’s
social fabric and the earlier graduates
changed their thought about employment in
the government sector, the better it will be
for themselves and the country.
He was speaking at the 5th session of the
48th Congregation of the University of Cape
Coast. Dr. Sam Jonah called on the graduates
to gird their loins in the difficult times
the country finds itself as government
struggles with the available resources to
meet the unlimited needs of the populace.
(See more at:
http://www.myjoyonline.com/news/2016/February-15th/times-are-hard-but-never-give-up-sam-jonah-tells-ucc-graduates.php#sthash.gr3g4tSt.dpuf
).
That is the new direction to take the debate
on graduate unemployment in Ghana. The times
are difficult, especially in terms of the
public sector, but it doesn't mean the end
of the road for Ghanaian students pursuing
diverse programmes in higher education.
There are many opportunities to explore
instead of sitting down, arms between
thighs, waiting for someone from just
anywhere to redeem.
In many countries, self-initiative does it
all. What we in Ghana have to know is that
higher education doesn't necessarily pave
the way for jobs, which is what those
graduates crying about unemployment and
blaming the government (thereby exposing
themselves to manipulation by politicians
seeking their sentiments for their own
selfish purposes) should be wary of.
The government has the responsibility to
create a congenial environment, but it
shouldn't overburden itself with placing
every graduate in a job. That is not done
anywhere in the world. Those who have the
requisite qualification should look for job
placements as such. Unfortunately, in Ghana,
it hasn't been so, which is why nurses,
teachers, etc. freshly churned out from the
training institutions automatically expect
to be placed and take to the streets if
their expectations are not met. But it
shouldn’t be so.
Folks, the truth is that the salvation of
the Ghanaian graduate lies in his or her own
hands. No one should expect to be
automatically absorbed into the job market
just because he/she has attained higher
education (even when such an education is
suspect when it comes to reality in terms of
its relevance to efforts at solving
existential problems).
As my own experiences tell me, looking for a
job after graduation from an institution of
higher education is the preserve of the
beneficiary. Even though some companies may
have recruitment teams in place to spot and
recruit qualified graduates, it is not
guaranteed that one should be placed after
graduation.
When I (a celebrated non-native speaker of
English trained in rhetoric and
composition/technical and professional
communication) was graduating from the Ph.D.
program in the United States, no institution
had any automatic spot for me to fill. I had
to apply for such a spot all over the
country to compete with hundreds of other
applicants (mostly native speakers of
English). Only my credentials and ability to
persuade the recruiters assured me of a
position, which I have occupied for over 7
years now. All Ghanaians working outside the
country can testify to this regimen.
You can imagine the fate of those who lost
the bid. They didn't have to blame the US
government led by Barack Obama but to find
ways of fitting into the society to use
their assets of higher education to solve
problems. After all, what is the value of
education if one cannot fit into the society
after being educated?
We in Ghana seem too comfortable with the
bar that has been lowered all these years,
which is why just any graduate at all thinks
that his/her problem of joblessness should
be blamed on the government,. and for which
they join hands with unscrupulous
politicians to misbehave all over the
country.
Dr. Jonah has opened the channel for
thorough conversation, which must be used so
we can redefine our purposes as far as
higher education and the job market are
concerned in Ghana. His message has no room
for narrow politics.
I shall return…
• E-mail: mjbokor@yahoo.com
• Join me on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/mjkbokor
to continue the conversation.
|
