The Governor of BOG, Ernest Addison
According to a UN report, more than 12% of Ghanaian youths are unemployed while over 52% are underemployed both of which are higher than the overall unemployment rates in Sub-Saharan African countries.
These leave most Ghanaian youths hungry and frustrated. A hungry man they say is an angry man. Hunger and anger are said to be two emotions that can often be intertwined.
Psychologists believe hunger is the most powerful of all human instincts and acts like fuel on the fire to indignation and that when a person is hungry, their body is in a state of emergency and they can sometimes react irrationally.
A clear example of what frustrated youth could do is the nationwide protests that erupted in Egypt on January 25, 2011, against the 30-year regime of President Hosni Mubarak because of poor economic conditions.
Even though Egypt had the most powerful military in Africa, the irate youth of the country could not be stopped.
On Tuesday, October 3, 2023, thousands of protesters led by the Minority caucus of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) demonstrated in Accra demanding the resignation of the Governor of the Bank of Ghana and his two deputies over the loss of about 60bn Ghana Cedis, approximately $5.2bn in the 2022 financial year.
Unfortunately, in response to the demonstration, Dr. Ernest Addison, the Governor of the Bank of Ghana described the protesters as “hooligans” and added that neither he nor his deputies will resign.
These incendiary remarks are very provocative and may trigger more widespread spontaneous collective actions to "demonstrate" what hungry "hooligan" youths can do. This is dangerous and a threat to national security. Dr. Addison must apologise to tamp down the fury of the ire-hungry youth of Ghana.
