Ignatius Baffour Awuah, Minister of Employment and Labour Relations
The Minister of Employment and Labour Relations, Ignatius Baffour Awuah, has reaffirmed government’s commitment to building a strong economy to help reduce illegal migration by Ghanaians to other countries.
He conceded that every country leverages the expertise of foreigners to develop but said illegal migration must not be encouraged.
The Minister said this during a working visit to the Ministry by the Director General of the International Labour Organization (ILO), Gilbert F Houngbo.
“What we should not be encouraging is using irregular and illegal means to achieve your goals in migration. In West Africa, for instance, most of our citizens risk walking through the desert to the Mediterranean to reach Europe. In the process, most of them lose their lives,” Mr Baffour Awuah stated
Root cause
The Labour Minister further stressed that the best way to deal with illegal migration is to address the root cause, which is the lack of jobs.
“Many people are distressed and they think they do not have hope locally because they are not finding jobs, and even if they find jobs the incomes are very low,” he said.
He said the government had made economic development a top priority to ensure that more jobs and opportunities are created.
He, however, acknowledged that the Ghanaian economy faces difficulties because of recent global events. He urged the public and the investor community to support the government in its drive to build a strong economy.
The Minister urged investors to put their resources into all sectors of the economy to create more job opportunities. For instance, he said, the cocoa industry, especially cocoa processing, is a lucrative investment choice that will help Ghana attain its development objectives.
“To boost our local economy, there’s the need for investors to invest in cocoa processing locally so that, at least, if it is not 100% processing, there will be some processing to provide more jobs and add value to our cocoa,” he said.
He said the country has a youthful, vibrant and educated population with enhanced skills and knowledge base. The youth, he said, are ready and eager to work adding but unfortunately there are not enough jobs for them.
He added that the government is exploring the possibility of forging partnerships with other countries under which Ghanaians can work and return with new expertise to develop the country.
“We want to take advantage of partnerships and explore the possibility of finding jobs in other countries. It should not be jobs that will make them stay in your country permanently. They will work and learn and come back to implement those things,” the Minister added.
About The Author
