Professor Barfuor Adjei-Barwuah, a member of the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) Vetting Committee and former diplomat, has cautioned Ghanaian youth against the illusion that life abroad offers better opportunities than staying and building a future in Ghana.
He said while some migrants succeed abroad, many others face difficulties that are rarely reflected in the images of prosperity they share with people back home.
“The so-called ‘ grass is greener somewhere. It’s an illusion,” Prof. Adjei-Barwuah said on Eyewitness News on Tuesday, September 8, 2026.
He said young Ghanaians considering migration often see only the apparent success of people living abroad without knowing the difficulties they may have faced to achieve it.
“You hear about them; they are showing prosperity and whatnot. The basis of the prosperity, they don’t tell you,” he said.
He said some migrants struggle to secure employment in their fields, leaving them to take up jobs unrelated to their qualifications and expectations.
“And then also, a lot of them actually never make it,” he said, drawing on his own experience of living and working abroad.
Prof. Adjei-Barwuah, who spent several years in the United States and later served as Ghana’s ambassador to Japan and the United States, said his experience abroad had reinforced his belief that leaving Ghana should not automatically be seen as the best route to a better life.
He recounted that after graduating in the United States, he turned down several job opportunities because he had already decided to return to Ghana.
“When I was leaving home, I knew that the Ghana I was leaving was going to be better than the States. And therefore, I want to be there when that happens,” he said.
