By Odiwuor Opiyo
WA, NOVEMBER 12, 2O21 (CISA) –Archbishop Philip Naameh, President of Ghana Catholic Bishops Conference (GCBC) has asked the government to initiate policies that will lead to the creation of sustainable jobs for the many unemployed youth of the country.
This he says will help in mitigating the effects of Covid-19 pandemic which has had devastating effects on less resourced nations like Ghana.
“Economically, tumbling commodity prices (gold, crude oil and cocoa) due to a fall in productivity have meant less revenue, putting more pressure on the local currency while driving up inflation. Lower productivity has equally led to job losses making an already precarious unemployment situation even worse and threatening to widen the gap between rich and poor,” the archbishop of the catholic archdiocese of Tamale said on November 8 keynote address at the opening of plenary assembly in Wa.
The archbishop said that the Covid-19 pandemic has been almost indiscriminate in its effect on the world economy and has hade multi-sectoral effects on less resourced nations like Ghana.
He noted that the education sector is one of the most badly hit sectors, whose effects began soon after the coronavirus arrived in the country with education institutions being ordered to close.
“Children in the basic school had to remain at home for well over eight months. In the meantime, many private schools had to fold up, sending their staff home without pay. Second cycle schools which reopened for the West African Senior Secondary Certificate Examinations had intermittent outbreaks of the disease leading occasionally to panic among parents. Universities have had normal academic calendars disrupted with some faculties having to run six-week semesters instead of the normal 12-week semesters,” he opined.
“The Church being a major stakeholder in education in Ghana has therefore been badly affected,” he said citing how seminaries have experienced huge disruptions due to inadequate funding and the suspension of fund-raising activities.
Archbishop Naameh called for dialogue that is open and honest between government and all stakeholders so as to address the difficulties associated with COVID-19 that continue to ravage across the country’s populace.
