Ace Ankomah Calls for Strategic National Framework to Address Graduate Employment Challenges

Ghana Needs Strategic Plan to Address Graduate Job Gaps – Ace Ankomah Warns

Renowned legal practitioner Ace Anan Ankomah has called on Ghana’s policymakers to adopt a long-term, strategic approach to graduate employment, stressing that the current model lacks clear direction for integrating trained professionals into the economy.

Speaking on Channel One TV’s “The Point of View” on Monday, October 13, Mr. Ankomah challenged public perceptions that some professions, particularly law, are oversaturated, arguing instead that the real issue lies in the absence of a national plan for graduate absorption and sectoral alignment.

Responding to concerns about an oversupply of legal professionals, Mr. Ankomah stated that statistics do not support the claim that more lawyers are being produced than professionals in other sectors.

“Law is not growing disproportionately. The ratio of lawyers to the general population remains balanced relative to other professions,” he noted.

He added that the legal profession is diverse, encompassing litigation, transactional law, advisory roles, and academia many of which are often overlooked in mainstream discussions.

Mr. Ankomah cautioned against narrowing the debate to a single profession, emphasising that the broader challenge is Ghana’s inability to absorb graduates across disciplines into meaningful employment.

“What opportunities exist for these trained individuals?” he asked. “It’s not enough to churn out graduates. We must have a strategic national development plan that clearly outlines how these professionals will contribute to economic growth.”

This concern is not limited to law. Recent data from the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) suggests that youth unemployment among tertiary graduates remains persistently high, hovering around 13.4% in urban centres as of 2024. Many young professionals report underemployment or being forced into unrelated jobs due to limited opportunities in their fields.

The former Managing Partner at Bentsi-Enchill, Letsa & Ankomah also criticised successive governments for what he termed “firefighting leadership”, where national problems are tackled reactively and without sustainable frameworks.

“We have a habit of reacting to issues for a week or two, especially when the media raises them. Then the conversation dies out, and the problem festers until the next cycle,” he said.

According to Ankomah, this lack of continuity and foresight is why Ghana continues to struggle with matching education outputs to labour market demands.

Mr. Ankomah’s remarks reinforce earlier observations made by legal academic David Ofosu-Dorte, who has advocated for a realignment of professional training systems with Ghana’s economic development goals.

Ofosu-Dorte previously urged national stakeholders to determine which professions are essential to Ghana’s development vision and to design education and job policies accordingly.

“Training should not be disconnected from national goals. We need to make certain career paths more viable, both in prestige and economic return,” he said during a policy roundtable in Accra earlier this year.

The conversation around graduate employment in Ghana has gained urgency as the country faces an expanding youth population. According to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), over 57% of Ghanaians are under 25, and thousands graduate annually into an already constrained job market.

Without targeted planning, experts warn, the mismatch between educational output and labour absorption capacity could deepen social and economic inequalities.

In sectors like engineering, IT, agriculture, and education, graduates are often left without clear entry pathways into their professions, despite the country’s pressing need for skilled talent in these areas.

Ace Ankomah’s call for a structured graduate employment strategy underscores a growing recognition that Ghana’s development requires more than just education it demands purposeful alignment between learning, policy, and labour markets. Without such a strategy, the cycle of underemployment, skills mismatch, and professional frustration is likely to persist.

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