Why did the Ghana Immigration Service sell in excess of 80,000 forms and subjected these people to all manner of processes including dehumanizing queues just to pick only 500 of them?

They paid GHC 50 for a form, giving the service over GHS 4.2 million. They made extra expenses traveling from various places for the screening exercises.

The fire service, police, etc, tertiary institutions and the universities are complicit in this wicked and debasing act to generate revenue. It doesn’t make sense to sell these job or admission forms to tens of thousands of people when these institutions have places for only a handful of them. In 2016 police recruitment vouchers were sold for GHC 100, and the GCB Bank sold over 17,000 vouchers three days into commencement of the process to recruit what was estimated to be not more than 300 new personnel.

In the exercise that took place Thursday and Friday in regional capitals, most applicants have their doubts if there is not already a protocol list equal to the 500 persons being sought.

It is understood that a previous exercise where the vouchers cost GHC 100 saw thousands participating when again the service required only a couple hundreds. I am thinking if it was also not possible to fall on that pool of already screened job seekers who be available this time too.

This is a most unfair treatment of vulnerable and desperate job seekers. It is not only a cheap act of extortion and official fraud, but a sick joke. It is a very sad commentary of how a country treats its most precious assets – the youth.

The poor able-bodied educated job seeking youth deserve better treatment.