If you are a Ghanaian youth, you know this morning routine. You wake up, say your small prayer, and the first thing you do is check your phone. Not for a good‑morning message — you are checking email. You are checking that WhatsApp group, “JOBS IN GHANA – 2026,” to see if someone has posted something.

I know because I do it too. Many of us do.
Then by evening, you are back in your room, tired. No reply. No call. Just you and your thoughts.

That is the reality now. We finish school, we do our National Service, we hold our certificates with pride — but after that? A long waiting. You are no longer a student, but you are also not yet the working man or woman you hoped to become. You are just… in between.

Our Nkyinkyim Moment

In our Ghanaian symbols, there is an Adinkra called Nkyinkyim. The pattern is twisted. The elders say it means life is not straight. It will twist you, bend you, but you must be strong and adapt.

Honestly, that is where we are as graduates — in that Nkyinkyim stage. The road is not straight at all.

I have friends, brilliant friends from Legon, KNUST, UEW, UCC. First class, second class upper. But they are home. Some have been home for two years. They have applied everywhere. Some companies won’t even reply to say, “Sorry, try next time.” They will just ghost you.

One friend told me, “Mac, I have applied so much that I’ve lost count. I’m even tired of writing application letters.”

After the Graduation Jubilation, What Next?

On graduation day, we all make noise. We dance, we take pictures. We think life is about to start. We want to help mother, help father, rent our own room, stop asking for money for data.

But a few months later, life shows you pepper.

You start doing any job at all just to survive. The Geography graduate becomes a mobile money agent. The Business student is doing delivery with his motorbike. The English student is selling thrift clothes on Instagram. Not because they want to, but because man must chop. As we say in Ghana, Ntawantawa mu.

And we are trying o. Ghanaian youth are not lazy. People have small businesses — they do makeup, braid hair, edit videos, sell sobolo. But even that small business needs capital. Where will a jobless graduate get 2,000 cedis to start?

Kofi Annan said, “You are never too young to lead, and you should never doubt your capacity to triumph where others have not.” We believe that. We are ready to lead. But we need a small push — a chance.

It Affects Your Mind

The painful part is that in Ghana, your joblessness is not your own. Your family feels it.

Your parents paid fees from Class 1 to Level 400. They expect you to at least support the house small. When you can’t, you start to feel bad. You are a graduate, yet you still have to ask your mum for lorry fare to go and look for a job. That thing hits your self‑esteem.

Sometimes you go on LinkedIn and see your mate posting, “Excited to announce my new role…” You will be happy for him, but inside you ask yourself, “What about me? Am I not trying enough?”

I am in Level 400 now, and I won’t lie — sometimes I ask myself that same question. What happens after Winneba?

We Need Each Other

A degree alone is not enough again. Employers want Excel, Canva, communication, experience. So we also need to learn skills by force. But how can you do unpaid internship for three months in Accra when you don’t even have money for transport?

That is why we need the other Adinkra principle — Boa Me Na Me Mmoa Wo. Help me and let me help you. Government, schools, companies, and we the youth — we need to cooperate.

Government cannot do all, but they can create an enabling environment. Companies can open their doors for real internships, not using graduates for free labour. And we the students also need to add small skills to our certificates before we graduate.

Ghana’s youth are ready. We are not asking for too much — just a fair chance to work and build this country. Behind every “youth unemployment rate” they mention on TV, there is a real person in the house, checking his email, hoping today will be different.

For now, many of us are still on that twisted Nkyinkyim road — still pushing, still hoping that the next application will be the one that finally straightens our path.

The writer is a student of Journalism and Media Studies at the University of Education, Winneba.