In a news article, No government jobs in 2017, on Peace FM Online, I wanted to be mischievous and sarcastic like any other youth reacted to this news. Interesting comments on social media got me thinking for a while.
“No jobs, no votes”, was one comment which really got to me wondering why that should be the case.

The Minister of Finance talked about Government Jobs and not any other job. To me, the word Government is acting as an adjective and not a noun. It is describing a particular type of job in the country.

This means, there are other forms of jobs available aside the government jobs which are available to employ. What this also means is, your academic qualification, though a priority is no longer a necessity to the government.

The system is saturated with too many academics fighting for the same and small jobs available.

We have reached the point where industrial revolution needs to take place but this is not going to start from a huge factory built by the government. It has to start from your backyard, bedroom, garage or little garden. It is all about our mindset and where we want to be in future.

So many business opportunities surround us which we fail to see because our educational system is a modernised archaic version, where we are taught to follow instructions and produce answers as they are in the pamphlets, a typical characteristic of government tailored jobs.

We are being trained with the mindset that our degrees are our license to success. The creativity aspect has been tagged as unnecessary and shoved to the side. Now we are to face reality, the government cannot provide jobs in 2017.

No matter who comes into government in 2017, there would still be no jobs. Even if each district is to get a factory, it is going to take the whole of 2017 to build a single factory.

What does this mean? We have to provide our own jobs, unfortunately, many of us want to be CEOs but are not ready to learn from or work under one.

The America we see today was not built by the government. It was built by men who turned problems into business opportunities, employed others and made wealth. America is owned by the billionaires not the government.

The government only acts as a cover up and moderates affairs to prevent exploitation of the middle and lower classes by the rich.

It is about time we as a youth got creative and innovative putting our talents and skills to use. We complain that the system is not supportive and many others. It never was for Rockerfeller, Ford, Carnegie, J.P Morgan, Vanderbilt, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and the many other great men of America who caused an industrial revolution in modern society.

Ghana needs change and it starts with us. In the words of John F. Kennedy, I’ll plead with the youth to “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for the country.”

So instead of sitting there, polishing our voter identification card as we eagerly await December 7, to vote out the current government because they cannot give us immediate employment, let’s speak to trustworthy people who believe in our skill and vision.

Let us learn to partner and share ideas. Thumbs up to the youth out there who are creating jobs for themselves and employing others. If space could permit me, I would have mentioned each of you here.

No Government Jobs in 2017, Yes! Utilisation of Skills and Talents Beyond 2017.