The percentage at which citizens of Ghana are engaged in international migration over the years has escalated to an uncontrollable level. Records has it that an estimated amount of Ghanaians are constantly moving to the western parts of the globe predominantly in search of improved standards of living.
Ghana as a democratic state, cannot place any ban on citizen’s freedom of movement as such affording most citizens the green light to emigrate out of the country in search for greener pastures. This has hindered the economy’s growth in several ways.
Pew Research Center, a nonpartisan association that is concerned with providing information revealed that about 75% of Ghanaians are likely to leave for abroad immediately should they be given the opportunity.
In Ghana, migration accounts for the loss of not less than 40% of human resource. This has limited the economic development of Ghana.
Since 1997, International Organization for Migration has analyzed that Africa’s large number migrating has cost $9 billion in the loss of its human capital and growth potential.
Developing countries, as a negative effect, suffer the brain drain; emigration of highly educated personnel’s of a country. It has been recorded by IOM that more African Scientists and engineers are c urrently employed in the US than there are in Africa.
Similarly in Zambia, emigration has caused the reduction in the number of 1600 doctors to as low as 400 doctors.
According to the Ghana Immigration Service, 187,252 Ghanaians left in 2014, 268,149 left in 2015 and 293,754 Ghanaians left in 2016. This regular annual escalation has caused a shake in the economy.
Human resource is an important factor to economic development. Serving as the largest and most valuable effective tool, these human resource are tasked with the responsibility of growing wealth for a nation through the exploiting of its natural resources, build infrastructure, form social organizations and better other sectors all for economic growth.
As Adam Smith opined, the prosperity and success of a country is determined by the skills, efficiency, attitudes and efforts of the labor used by that country.
Human resource forming a country’s labor portion also functions as the key to economic growth. Loosing so much of the human capital, has overtime caused a grave harm to the economy.
Many factors compel citizens out of the country such as poverty really stands out. This canker that seems prevalent in the country as a result of unemployment has compelled the masses to travel out of the country through both legal and illegal channels to improve standards of living.
As many countries grow, others like Ghana continue to have high unemployment rate.
The Ghana Labor Force launched in 2015 surveyed that over 1.2 million persons are unemployed in Ghana representing a percentage of 11.9. The figures reveal unemployment as the prevailing reason for the huge toll of emigration in Ghana.
Most graduates think they need to attain more certificates before getting employment on the job market. They pursue further academics after their first degrees only to find out the situation is no different elsewhere.
This behooves government to effectively tackle this ongoing issue by creating about 300,000 job avenues on the market annually to pin down the rate at which citizens leave abroad in search for greener pastures.
Rendering to IOM’s Statistics, 5637 of Ghanaians reached Italy by boat in 2016, an increase of 25 in number from 2015, the previous year.
Not considering the health conditions, eager Ghanaians through illegal channels leave the country. Passing through desserts and other terrible routes affect the lives of these migrants. The rate at which migrants have accepted to do all it cost at the peril of their lives to emigrate is rather appalling. The unfavorable weather conditions they experience when embarking their journey is unhealthy. Not forgetting that others are also raped or might not even get to their destinations. All these signs doesn’t seem to trigger the change in emigrant minds at all.
Arriving at their destination, some well-educated elites with respective credentials rather tend to work in places such as restaurants as cleaners. Others include being taxi driving and being entertainers. These quick fix jobs according to research, prove to be the mainstream for quick money making of immigrants.
Forgetting the negative impact of international migration on the economy of the country, youths who make up the unemployment rate especially, rather look up to international migration as the ulterior goal to attain in one’s life, a statement by the former director of the Center for Migration Studies of the University of Ghana, Dr. (Mrs) Delali Margaret Badasu.
This has really depleted Ghana of her labor force, causing a fall in the economy at large.
By; Stephanie Anyanah.
