I MY former classmate, Kofi Owuo, alias ‘Death By Poverty’ told me last week that it is a sin to be unemployed in Sikaman.

According to him, every unem­ployed or redeployed person, whether he is a born-again or not, is a potential suspect when it comes to cases involv­ing missing fowls, disappeared cats and monies that cannot be found where they are supposed to be.

Unfortunately still, the unemployed are regarded as sinful because they are perceived as lazy people who do not want to work, moreso when the Holy Bible is against sloth.

The unemployed are never free from suspicion. It is always predicted that sooner or later he’d impregnate a JSS school-girl and attempt to abort, or deny responsibility, or both.

And no one is keen on inviting an unemployed person to an outdooring, birthday party or wedding. The fear is that with a virtually empty stomach, he’d vent his spleen on the food and devour with all his might, drink to his utmost satisfaction and quietly sneak out without offering a little donation.

Indeed the unemployed person is perceived to be very dangerous per­son with a long throat and an elastic stomach that can do wonders during outdoorings. He must be kept at bay.

Everyone really forgets that it is no fault of his that he remains jobless. Fact is that it is a taboo to find ready employment in Sikaman.

As I suggested last week, it is only in heaven that getting employed is not a problem. But heaven is quite distant from here. Even born-agains who speak in Swahili and Hebrew simultaneously can only get there after they die. So the problem lies here and must be solved here.

Today, jobs are so scarce that one needs a power- torchlight to find wher­ever they are hiding. Many well-qual­ified graduates have no say but to ac­cept jobs as bank clerks which normally is taken by O’ level certificate holders or even those with GCE passes.

But that is better than being a grad­uate ‘house-wife’. At least such a grad­uate would not chew stones, neither will he munch grass. But he can’t look after his ageing mother after settling all the bills, has got a cocoa farm, he could go and mortgage it and then he can get some cash and marry.

Graduates who are lucky to get jobs as clerks are better off. There are hundreds of jobless others with equal­ly good qualifications who cannot get employed even as bank messengers. No vacancy, mister!

So many of them have to stoop low, going from one rich man’s house to an­other soliciting part-time jobs to teach their preparatory school children for a fee. In Tema, this is termed COACHING. Even here, the competition is great because teachers are also all out to get such jobs to supplement their incomes.

Still, are the luckless ones who have nothing doing apart from being always busy writing applications to private companies and public organisations.

The reply to such an application is normally enclosed in beautiful envelop spelling hope of success.

The applicant, however, opens the envelope with trembling hands, fum­bling with everything. Awkwardly, he manages to extract the letter, hurriedly opens it to read the good news.

And the good news is this “….. Thank you for showing keen interest in our company…… Sorry, all vacan­cies are filled….. Wish you luck else-where……. “

When the applicant, however, writes in response to an advert in the dailies, the chances are that he’d be called to an interview. That day he dons his X’mas dress, wears a new hair­cut (not punk), borrows a decent shoe from a friend and attends the interview with the Lord’s Prayer and Psalm 23 on his lips. “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want…

No one should blame him! He has attended over nine such interviews and none had proved successful. Perhaps on those previous occasions he had forgot­ten to say the Lord’s prayer, so why be silly enough to forget it this time!

Although he goes for the interview with confidence he is still at a disad­vantage. He recalls that the advertiser had been deliberately cruel: “Young graduates wanted as management trainees…… Age limit 26”.

But the applicant is 29 because he completed university at 25, did a year of national service and thereafter be­came jobless for three years. So, he is automatically disqualified age-wise.

The advertiser may have requested something like this: “Wanted for imme­diate employment….. Applicants must have not less than five years practical experience.

When it comes to responding to such an advert, the disillusioned appli­cant would have to be bold enough to state, “Sir, I have five years practical experience in sleeping and snoring at home….. I hope my application would be granted favourable consider­ation…..Signed!

Anyhow, he is still called to attend an interview. But in most cases he must be smart enough to understand the procedure before-hand. You don’t have to be ‘too-know’.

Understanding the procedure can be a complex issue. But in its simplest terms, you only have to trace the home of one panel member and hand him a fat envelope. That settles it.

So on the D-day, the interview becomes a mere formality, successful candidates are determined long before the interview commences.

With girl applicants, the procedure often becomes different in format, if the boss is unscrupulous. She may not need to attend a panel interview after all. The interview can be held quietly in a hotel room with the boss, while the secretary types out the appoint­ment letter.

Born-again female applicants do not yield to such unorthodox procedure and they cry out to Jesus Christ and Elijah to intercede on their behalf. Sikaman is really a tough ground for school leavers.

At least 3,000 graduates are eligible for employment every year after na­tional service. At least 1,000 do not get employed and half of this number are forced to leave the country to Zambia, Namibia, Zimbabwe or Germany which is better pronounced as JAAMANI, where they slug it out the hard way.

The other half languish in the capi­tal employed writing applications after application. Each year their number increases in geometric progression.

And I predict that it would soon come to a time when frustrated grad­uates will start doing what they are not supposed to be doing – for instance joining the ‘stowaway’ gang.

That would not be all. I wouldn’t also be surprise if some die-hards among them start enlisting as armed robbers. In a situation of destitution and acute frustration, anything can happen, even the seemingly undreamt of. The devil finds work for the idle mind.

And don’t forget, man must eat every day, buy clothes to cover his na­kedness, pay the bills, get married and have children. They are not supposed to be breathing down the necks of their ageing parents for food thrice daily.

A radical solution must be found to this problem of joblessness. And the saddest part is that while everyone is overly concerned about the plight of workers, nobody is seriously concerned about the plight of the jobless. At least workers have some- thing to live on. The jobless have nothing at all. See the difference?

Admittedly, certain attempts have been made to make available job op­portunities. For instance the National Board for Small Scale Industries (NBSSI) is doing its best to train and equip cer­tain categories of the unemployed and redeployed. But how many of them can they take on in a year? The programme must be expanded.

The National Mobilization Pro­gramme has done creditably in the rural areas. In the cities, they have not tackled the problem at all. There is more room for improvement.

As we are all prepared to enter into a new political era, let’s also think about creating a new era for the jobless thousands living in abject destitution. It is only then that they can actively participate in the evolving democratic process.

This article was first published on May 11, 1991