Have you ever heard of the Ghanaian dream? I mean, does it even exist?
Take a moment to think about that.
The narrative that often surrounds Africa and its people has been largely negative, one filled with hardship, inferiority, poverty, and lost hope.
While I will not pretend to speak for the entire continent, I can speak for my home, Ghana.
So, let me ask again, is Ghana any better? Have we broken free from these narratives that have plagued Africa for decades? Or are we simply camouflaged in a system that continues to stifle potential and silence hope? From where I sit, as a young Ghanaian, I am not so sure we have escaped it at all.
Let me walk you through this from my perspective, which is that of a Ghanaian youth.
Ghana is undeniably a youthful nation. According to the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS), the 2021 Population and Housing Census showed that 38.2% of our population is under 15, and over 57% is under 25. That means more than half of us are young.
In theory, this should be our advantage, our key to unlocking progress. If properly harnessed, this demographic shift could be Ghana’s golden ticket to economic growth and transformation.
But that’s just the theory.
Back to my question earlier question, what is the Ghanaian dream?
Is it anything close to what James Truslow Adams envisioned in his 1931 book Epic of America, where he described the American Dream as “that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement”?
That dream, regardless of its flaws, is something Americans still talk about and believe in. But here in Ghana, do we have a version of that?
Curious and a bit hopeful, I asked a group of young people what their idea of the “Ghanaian Dream” was.
Their responses were sobering.
Yes, young people have dreams. Big ones, in fact.
However, many of us do not see those dreams flourishing here; not in a country that is marred by dusty roads, where the education system is broken, the healthcare system is hanging by a thread, and inequality runs deep, even after 68 years of independence.
Not in Ghana!
For many of us, leaving the country feels like the only real option. Not out of lack of patriotism, but out of desperation. We want more. We want better. But the systems around us feel like a prison of limitations.
So what exactly is keeping us in despair?
First, is the unemployment crisis. The cost of living is painfully high. Access to capital or credit is nearly impossible. Inflation is eating away at our savings, if we even have any.
And even with a university degree, many of us can’t find jobs that sustain us, let alone inspire us. We are forced into underemployment, or worse, unemployment. We hustle, but we are tired. We are capable, but we are stuck.
Secondly, there is a lack of growth opportunities. Let us be honest, education is not just about school fees and books.
It is about real-world skills, mentorship, exposure, and access to tools and funding. And all of that is missing. People often mention agencies like the Youth Employment Agency (YEA) and other so-called youth support initiatives, but let us be real—how many of us actually benefit from them? Most of these programs serve a privileged few, and the rest of us are left to figure things out on our own.
Then there is the growing distrust in leadership. In 2024, I wrote a piece on Afrobarometer’s report on Democratic Trends in Africa.
Refer to: (https://citinewsroom.com/2024/07/afrobarometer-report-majority-of-african-youth-disillusioned-with-democracy/)
The findings were clear: most African youth, including those here in Ghana, are losing faith in democratic governance. Some are even beginning to see military rule as a temporary fix to civilian failures. That is how frustrated we have become. We feel invisible, like passengers on a bus with no brakes and no driver who listens.
Another contributing factor is global exposure and the lure of migration. The internet has opened our eyes. Through social media, we see people our age thriving in other countries, building careers, enjoying systems that support them, and it is only natural to want that for ourselves. Not just want, but it starts to feel like the only way.
These mass movements by young people in search of green pastures are not without effects.
Talented Ghanaians—doctors, engineers, nurses and innovators are leaving.
Brain drain and the sense of disenfranchisement have become real.
According to the World Bank, almost half of Ghana’s trained medical professionals are working abroad. In the past two decades, over 300,000 Ghanaians have left, many to North America and Europe. We lose more than just people, we lose billions of dollars each year in investments, ideas, and innovation.
Can any country develop when its future, thus the youth, have to look elsewhere for survival?
Definitely not!
This conversation is long overdue. We need to dig deep and uproot the systems that make it impossible for young people to dream, let alone thrive.
I believe the next generation deserves more than just slogans and empty manifestos. They deserve support, infrastructure, belief, and opportunity.
As a young Ghanaian, I want to be able to say that the Ghanaian Dream exists—and that it is not just a fantasy tucked away in someone’s speech. I want to believe that we can dream of better lives, right here at home. Not wrapped in images of snowy winters and foreign flags, but rooted in red-gold-green, under the warmth of a Ghanaian sun and the pride of our Black Star.
The Ghanaian Dream should be real and it should be ours!
Article by: Adwubi Wiafe Akenteng, Broadcast Journalist, Channel One TV/Citi FM
Email: [email protected]