The founding president of IMANI Africa, Franklin Cudjoe, has warned that rising youth unemployment in Ghana could become a major national security threat if urgent action is not taken.
Speaking on Joy SMS, Mr Cudjoe said the huge number of applicants seeking recruitment into the country’s security services highlights the severity of the unemployment crisis.
His comments follow a disclosure by the Minister for the Interior, Mohammed Muntaka Mubarak, that more than 405,000 people applied for only 5,000 available positions in Ghana’s security services.
The minister revealed the figures while speaking to journalists at the Parliament of Ghana on March 11.
According to him, the applicants include about 75,000 university graduates and 330,000 holders of the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE).
Although more than 105,000 applicants qualified for the medical screening stage of the recruitment process, only 5,000 candidates will be recruited this year because of financial constraints.
Mr Cudjoe described the situation as alarming, warning that the large number of unemployed young people could pose serious social and security risks.
He said the lack of employment opportunities is pushing some young Ghanaians toward risky activities such as online scams and irregular migration through the country’s porous borders in search of better prospects.
The policy analyst urged government and policymakers to prioritise job creation, stressing that employment should remain the top focus of economic policy.
Meanwhile, Mr Mubarak acknowledged the scale of the challenge, noting that recruitment into the security services alone cannot resolve Ghana’s broader unemployment problem.
He assured that the government will continue to explore additional avenues to create opportunities for the country’s growing youth population.
