Mahama warns of an uprising over growing youth unemployment

Former President of Ghana, John Dramani Mahama has expressed worry over the current generation of African youth saying they may rise up against their leaders if jobs are not created.

According to him, the youth have seen their opportunities dwindling and will therefore rise against authority to seek for better avenues for survival.

“The generation of today, that is what we’ve been warning about. We have a youth bulge, our population is very young 35 and below are 60% and we’ve always said that it is an advantage in terms of having young strong labour but it’s also a disadvantage if we are not able to find employment as quickly. And so the young people see that their opportunities are dwindling,” he told Accra-based TV3, monitored by MyNewsGh.com

The former President also used the opportunity to call on the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to, as a matter of urgency also look at happenings in Cote d’Ivoire in order to avoid it from escalating into something big.

He said “The president dealt with the Malian situation. He also should be very responsive to what is happening not only in Nigeria but also Côte d’Ivoire."

Adding that “We keep saying the rioting that is taking place, ECOWAS must be proactive and must start to envision what interventions need to be done in order to bring peace to those countries.”