The Coalition of Unemployed Graduates with Disabilities has appealed to President John Dramani Mahama to remove the Minister for Education, Haruna Iddrisu, and the Director-General of the Ghana Education Service (GES), Professor Ernest Kofi Davis, accusing them of disregarding the government’s 5% employment quota for persons with disabilities.

In a statement issued on Monday, August 3, the coalition alleged that none of the 200 qualified graduates with disabilities it submitted for consideration was recruited during the recent GES recruitment exercise, despite about 7,000 personnel being employed.

“We call on His Excellency the President of the Republic of Ghana to immediately remove from office the Minister for Education and the Director-General of the Ghana Education Service (GES) for blatant disregard of presidential directives and failure to enforce the statutory 5% quota for Persons with Disabilities,” the statement said.

The coalition gave the government a one-week ultimatum to employ its members, warning that failure to act would trigger an indefinite peaceful occupation of the Jubilee House, the Ministry of Finance and the GES headquarters.

“We are not asking for charity; we are demanding our right to work. We have been ‘educated for the shelf’ for too long,” it added.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MONDAY, AUGUST 3RD 2026
THE COALITION OF UNEMPLOYED GRADUATES WITH DISABILITIES ISSUES A STERN ONE WEEK ULTIMATUM TO GOVERNMENT TO ABSORB ITS MEMBERS WHO APPLIED TO THE GHANA EDUCATION SERVICE TO BE EMPLOYED AS TEACHERS IN THE RECENT RECRUITMENT PROCESS DONE BY THE GES BEFORE FULL-SCALE OCCUPATION OF JUBILEE HOUSE, MINISTRY OF FINANCE, AND GES HEADQUARTERS AND CALLS ON GOVERNMENT TO AS A MATTER OF URGENCY REMOVE THE MINISTER FOR EDUCATION AND THE DIRECTOR-GENERAL OF THE GHANA EDUCATION SERVICE FOR BLATANTLY DISREGARDING PRESIDENTIAL DIRECTIVES ON THE 5% QUOTA SCHEME FOR PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES IN EVERY PUBLIC SECTOR RECRUITMENT.

The Coalition of Unemployed Graduates with Disabilities addresses the media, the public, and state authorities today with unyielding rage and absolute contempt for the systematic discrimination perpetuated by the Ministry of Education and the Ghana Education Service (GES).

It will be recalled that when our members took to the streets in an earlier peaceful demonstration to protest our exclusion on March 24th this year, state officials rushed to meet us with soothing promises and solemn commitments that all unemployed graduates with disabilities would be systematically absorbed into the public workforce. We suspended our protests in good faith, trusting that the government acted with integrity.

Instead, we have been systematically deceived. Today, qualified university and college graduates with disabilities continue to sit at home in crippling poverty and hopelessness some having remained unemployed for up to ten years after completing their tertiary education. We have been pushed to the wall, and our diplomatic patience has officially expired.

In the recent recruitment exercise conducted by the Ghana Education Service (GES), where approximately seven thousand (7,000) personnel were absorbed into the public teaching service, we formally compiled and submitted a comprehensive, verified list of two hundred (200) qualified tertiary graduates living with disabilities.

These individuals possess certified diplomas and degrees in education and humanities from accredited universities and colleges of education across the country.

Despite explicit assurances from the Ministry of Education and the leadership of the GES that the government’s affirmative action directive mandating a minimum 5% recruitment quota for Persons with Disabilities in all public sector postings would be strictly implemented, the grim reality is that NOT A SINGLE MEMBER FROM OUR SUBMITTED LIST WAS RECRUITED.

Out of 7,000 total slots, a 5% allocation should have yielded at least 350 placements for graduates with disabilities.

Assigning zero slots to our qualified members is a calculated act of systemic discrimination and institutional neglect on the part of the Government.

Our disappointment is further compounded by the complete inaction and silence of the Parliament of Ghana.

We previously submitted formal petitions detailing the severe unemployment crisis facing graduates with disabilities to the Rt. Hon. Speaker of Parliament, The Leadership of the Majority Caucus and the Leadership of the Minority Caucus.

Regrettably, both the Majority and Minority sides of Parliament, as well as the Speaker’s office, have treated our petitions with indifference. Neither side has used its oversight authority to compel the Executive or the Ministry of Education to comply with mandatory statutory provisions.

Parliament has failed in its constitutional duty to defend vulnerable citizens, choosing political expediency over basic equity and justice.

The conduct of the Government of Ghana, the Ministry of Education, and the Ghana Education Service constitutes an explicit breach of binding legal provisions both domestically and globally.

The United Nations, through the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) — which Ghana has ratified and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 8), demands that member states ensure PWDs have access to “open, inclusive, and accessible” labor markets.

The UN and International Labour Organization (ILO) standards emphasize that governments should implement quota schemes (often recommending that PWDs occupy between 2% to 5% of the workforce in both public and private sectors) to ensure equitable representation.

However, the Government of Ghana has failed to enforce even the basic provisions of our own Persons with Disability Act, 2006 (Act 715 when it comes to the issues of employment).

Recently, at the launch of the free tertiary Education for persons with Disabilities policy, His Excellency the President of the republic, John Dramani Mahama stated pellucidly that he was going to implement a 5% quota employment policy for persons with disabilities across the country in all public and private sector recruitment and also incentivize private companies willing to hire the service of persons with Disabilities.

From the glaring evidence deduced from the conducts of the same Government which made this pledge in its manifesto, we can conclude that the said promise was made for political expediency and populism without any clear commitment to actualize the promise.

We are not asking for charity; we are demanding our right to work. We have been “educated for the shelf for too long. We call on His Excellency the President of the Republic of Ghana to immediately remove from office the Minister for Education and the Director-General of the Ghana Education Service (GES) for blatant disregard of presidential directives and failure to enforce the statutory 5% quota for Persons with Disabilities.

We are imploring the Ghana Education service to immediately issue appointment letters to our members whose names were submitted to the ministry of Education and the Ghana Education service within the one-week ultimatum given by the Coalition.

We call on the President to issue an executive directive instructing the Minister for Finance to grant immediate, dedicated financial clearance for all non-teaching graduates with disabilities.

These qualified graduates must be absorbed into state agencies including the Local Government Service, the Civil Service, the Ghana Revenue Authority, and other public service institutions without delay.

Should the government fail to provide concrete, official written commitments addressing our demands before the expiration of this ultimatum, all members of our coalition from across the sixteen (16) regions of Ghana will gather in Accra to commence an indefinite peaceful occupation of the Ministry of Finance, the GES Headquarters, and the Jubilee House (Seat of the Presidency) to press home our demands.

We appeal to all media organizations — print, electronic, and digital — to actively highlight the grave injustice, legal breaches, and systemic neglect exposed in this statement. We further request media outlets to grant our leadership platforms to discuss these critical matters publicly to ensure full public accountability.

Signed:
GILBERT BOATENG AGYARE
THE GROUP CONVENER.