The Ghana Government has been challenged to create more opportunities for young Ghanaians to get jobs that would enable them live in dignity.
Very Rev. Fr. Lazarus Anondee, Secretary General of the National Catholic Secretariat, bemoaned the spate of illegal migration in the country, resulting in the death of many young people, and stated that more access to jobs in the country, could curb the incidence of illegal migration by the youth.
He stressed that the youth embarking on these perilous journeys could stay in Ghana, if the state had created more opportunities for unemployed youth in the country.
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He made this observation during the recent launch of a National Migration Project and the Outdooring of the Caritas Ghana Strategic and Advocacy Plan.
Commenting on the migration, Mr. Samuel Zan Akologo, Executive Secretary for Caritas Ghana, said though not a new phenomenon, there was need to pay attention to the issue of risks associated with it.
He expressed worry about the hazards and death of most of irregular migrants on their unsafe routes across the Sahara Desert through the Mediterranean Sea to Europe.
With Brong Ahafo region noted for high irregular migrants in Ghana, Mr. Akologo stated that the Caritas Ghana is working with Caritas Techiman Diocese and the Catholic Relief Service to implement a two-year pilot service delivery programme for potential, irregular and returned migrants in Nkoranza and Techiman.
The project, he explains, seeks to curb the incidence of irregular migration, through social change behaviour communication strategies, provision of trauma awareness and resilience services as well as the establishment of regional referral system, among others.
Titled Regional Right to Roam, Return and Rest (R5), the project will also provide technical/vocational and life skills training geared to support potential migrants in transits and returned migrants.
Ambassador William Awinador-Kanyirige, Chairman of the function called on government to cut down waste in the public sector in order to create more opportunities of employment for the youth.
At the lunch, the two plaining documents of Caritas Ghana: Medium Term Programme Critical Pathways (Strategic Framework): 2017-2021 and the Catholic Community Agenda for Change (C2 AGENDA4CHANGE) Advocacy Plan: 2017-2021, were unveiled.
By Kwesi Yirenkyi Boateng
