Mad rush for jobs at new stadium

There is a mad rush for job seekers at the CAN 2008 stadium, which is currently under construction at Essipon near Sekondi.

Checks at the Takoradi district labour office indicate that over eight hundred people, mostly youth have so far been registered and issued with labour cards.


The job seekers, who are mostly carpenters, welders, electricians, and unskilled workers, according to the Labour office officials, are expected to go beyond the 800 so far registered, as applications continued to pour in day in and day out.


According to an Accra daily private newspaper, Ghanaian Chronicle some unscrupulous people have taken advantage of the situation to dupe the people.


These unscrupulous people have been charging the unsuspecting job seekers who have overcrowded the labour office between ?40,000 and ?60,000 respectively under the pretext of helping them to obtain the labour card in a fast way, but always ended up running away with the money they collect. The Takoradi District Labor Officer, Alexander Awortwi, confirmed there is mad rush for jobs at the stadium construction site.


He said of the 800 they have registered and issued with labour cards so far, 110 of them are carpenters, 34 welders, 49 electricians and the rest unskilled people, who are also seeking jobs as labourers.

Mr Awortwi confirmed also that indeed some unscrupulous people had taken advantage of the situation to dupe the job seekers.


He said it was illegal for a non-worker at the labour office to go round collecting money from the people under the pretext of helping them to get the labour card.


He explained that his outfit did not charge any fee before issuing the labour card and that anyone who would be caught doing that would be dealt with according to the law.


According to him though his outfit was still issuing the labour card, he himself had not personally met the management of the Chinese company constructing the stadium, for him to know the caliber of people they wanted.


He however said it was not likely that all the people they have so far registered would be picked to work at the construction site.