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Stop exploiting unemployed youth – Coalition tells employers
● A number of young people go out to look for jobs daily
Youth in the Upper West Region want employers in the country to stop taking advantage of lack of employment in the country to exploit them.
The Coalition of Concerned Youth Groups in the Upper West Region who made the appeal in a communique stated that employers engaged the youth and either paid them very little remuneration or took advantage of their voluntary service to pay them nothing at all.
“Young people continue to face structural inequalities at the workplace; most of them are into internships and others are; casual engagements with organisations due to the shortage of jobs in the country, however, it sad to note that although they work to produce substantive results, they either receive no salary or are paid very little even though their services contribute significantly to the growth of the organisation”, the group said.
The group further noted with concern the spate of unemployment among the youth coupled with increased casual engagement of young people by some organisations in the country.
The communique was jointly signed by youth advocacy organisations such as the Coalition for Positive Impact, Community Aid for Rural Development (CARD) Ghana and the Necessary Aid Alliance to draw the attention of stakeholders to the plight of the youth in the country.
Throwing more light on the issues raised by the group, the SHE-Lead Coordinator of CARD-Ghana, Ms Ernestina Biney said the youth in the country had suffered unemployment in silence for too long which was an affront to human dignity.
She stated that engaging the youth on casual terms, limited their development as they wasted their active years sacrificing without income when they could have been engaged permanently with substantive salaries to adequately prepare them for the future.
She appealed to the government to create an enabling environment for the youth to ensure that jobs created in the country for the youth were sustainable.
“We need government to introduce deliberate policies aimed at providing sustainable jobs for the teeming unemployed youth to reduce migration of the active workforce to Europe and other foreign countries in pursuit of greener pastures”, she said.
She called on employers to engage the youth on fair term not take advantage of the lack of jobs in the country to exploit the job seeking youth.
The Coordinator again raised the issue of gender stereotyping and said even though the youth in general were confronted with unemployment issues, females suffered more as some of them were refused certain job offers and promotion as a result of their gender.
“These inequalities, stereotypes and biases undermine the youth and prevent them from adequately utilising their potentials and contributing to national development and it is, therefore, not surprising that only a few young people are actively involved at top level management positions as well as governance”, she said.
From Lydia Darlington Fordjour, Wa
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Prof Alidu Seidu files nomination for Tamale Central seat
The newly elected parliamentary candidate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) for Tamale Central, Prof Alidu Seidu, has submitted his nomination forms to the Electoral Commission.
As of 10:00 a.m. today, he was the only person who had filed to contest the seat.
Nomination of candidates will close at the end of the day.
Associate Professor and Head of the Political Science Department at the University of Ghana Legon, Prof. Alidu Seidu won the National Democratic Congress (NDC) parliamentary primaries in the Tamale Central constituency with a landslide victory.
The elections, supervised by the party’s Elections and IT Directorate in the Northern Region, saw Prof. Seidu poll 840 votes out of the total valid ballots cast.
His closest contender, Lawyer Hanan Gundadow Abdul-Rahaman, secured 536 votes.
The other aspirants could not make significant gains, with Dr. Seidu Fiter obtaining 44 votes, Aliu Abdul-Hamid 23 votes, and the rest recording fewer than 10 votes each.
In all, 1,500 ballots were cast, with 6 ballots rejected and 7 spoilt ballots recorded.
The results were signed and declared by Dr. Arnold Mashud Abukari, NDC Northern Regional Director of Elections and IT.
The National Democratic Congress (NDC) held parliamentary primaries in Tamale Central to choose a candidate for the upcoming by-election following the death of the sitting Member of Parliament, Dr. Ibrahim Murtala Mohammed. Dr. Mohammed, who also served as Minister for Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, tragically died in a military helicopter crash in the Adansi Akrofuom District on August 6, 2025, alongside seven others.
His passing left the Tamale Central seat vacant, as required by Ghana’s 1992 Constitution.
The Electoral Commission has scheduled the by-election for September 30, 2025. While the NDC moved quickly to open nominations and vet aspirants, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) announced it would not contest the seat, citing the need to respect the somber circumstances and promote national unity.
By: Jacob Aggrey
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Ghana to locally refine its gold starting October 2025 – Sammy Gyamfi
The Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Gold Board, Sammy Gyamfi, has announced that plans are far advanced for the establishment of a state-owned gold refinery in the country.
Speaking at the 2025 Minerals and Mining Convention, Mr Gyamfi said the refinery will process locally mined gold into bullion instead of exporting it in its raw state.
According to him, it is unacceptable that Ghana, despite being a leading gold producer in Africa, continues to export raw gold known as dore.
He explained that the Gold Board, working with the Bank of Ghana and local refineries, will from October 2025 begin refining gold locally.
He also disclosed that an ultramodern assay laboratory will be built to ensure international standards in testing gold quality.
Mr Gyamfi noted that the refinery will be wholly state-owned and will help Ghana move away from raw mineral exports to value addition.
This, he said, will boost foreign exchange earnings, create jobs, and position Ghana as a hub for gold refining and jewellery production in Africa.
The CEO stressed that the project forms part of government’s strategy to ensure the country benefits fully from its natural resources and to transform the mining sector into a driver of economic growth.
By: Jacob Aggrey
