Jobless Graduates Nationwhide Hit Close To 100,000 � UGAG

The Unemployed Graduates Association of Ghana (UGAG) issues this press statement to the Government and the good people of Ghana to emphasise the fact that the continuous increase in unemployment of school leavers, especially university and polytechnic graduates, is not only a disincentive to schooling but could also be a recipe for social unrest if not immediately checked especially as we enter this year�s election. Unemployment leads to frustrations which could find manifestation in different unfavourable forms. There is a saying that the devil finds work for the idle hands. This country enjoys some level of peace and stability which needs to be guarded very jealously. It is an additional fact that yearly, several graduates from the country�s tertiary institutions estimated to be in the region of 70,000 come out of school searching for jobs. It was with a sense of call to duty that we, the members of Unemployed Graduates Association of Ghana (UGAG) between 30th August and 5th September embarked on a nationwide tour to all regions to register new members and mobilise all unemployed graduates towards the staging of a massive demonstration in the coming weeks to register our displeasure with the current order. The tour revealed among other things that over 88,000 graduates nationwide were unemployed which makes about 50.8 percent of graduates from the universities, polytechnics and other tertiary institutions. The tour also revealed that some graduates in communities such as Kpaza, Agomedi, etc have been neglected by their families for more than a year because they are unemployed. We are not speaking because we are lazy. We are speaking because, the harsh economic environment is making it very difficult for our members to find jobs or even transform their creative ideas into meaningful enterprises. We wish to call on the Government of Ghana to immediately come out with workable solutions before our frustrations become a threat to national peace. Long Live Ghana. Short live Graduate unemployment.