Introduction
At El-Wak’s gate, before the sun arose,
Six dreams stepped forth, hopeful, faith unbroken
From distant towns, they journeyed far,
To serve their land, to wear its star.
But when the trumpet sounded,
The truth cut deep, dreams lay dead.
The forms they sold, the money gained,
The nation’s youth deceived and drained.
Opportunity wrapped in lies,
El-Wak became their grave that day the 12th of November 2025,
Where six bright hopes were swept away with over twenty injured.
The words above are more than poetry, they echo the painful reality faced by many young and youthful Ghanaians. What begins as ambition, service and national pride often ends in shattered hopes crushed aspirations, and abandoned dreams.
Across Ghana, over the past decade, thousands of youth have witnessed a worrying trend where public institutions including universities, security services, and some government agencies sell application forms or e-vouchers for job and admission opportunities.
In a country where unemployment remains a pressing social and economic issue, the sale of job application forms should never be a source of profit. Yet, many organizations both public and private have turned the desperate search for employment into a revenue-generating exercise.
These institutions and public organizations sell these application forms when no genuine vacancies exist or when only a handful of positions are available. They tend to exploit the hopes and hardships of job seekers under the guise of offering an opportunity.
This practice, though seemingly harmless on the surface, represents a profound injustice. It is not only unethical but fundamentally unjust. It preys upon the unemployed, who often sacrifice their limited resources to purchase these forms with the belief that they are one step closer to a job.
They turn the desperation of the unemployed into a business opportunity and undermine the principles of fairness and integrity that should guide recruitment. Oh Mother Ghana! Why do we betray our own children, selling their dreams for empty promises?
Today, there is no hope for our people. Ghana, our motherland, a nation wrestling with high youth unemployment, job announcements bring a rare surge of hope for the youth. For many job seekers, particularly the youth, the mere announcement of recruitment sparks excitement and renewed hope.
They line up in long queues or rush online to purchase forms, convinced that this is their chance to finally secure meaningful work which too often ends in disappointment.
Public organizations and institutions have recognized the vulnerability of our youth in the job market and are exploiting their desperation for profit.
In 2016, the Ghana Police Service sold over 17,000 recruitment forms through GCB Bank, although only a fraction of the applicants were recruited. Fast forward to 2025, the Ghana Armed Forces received about 60,000 applications but planned to recruit only 4,000 personnel, generating a revenue of twelve million (GHS 12,000,000.00 – GHS 200 per applicant).
These figures demonstrate a significant mismatch between the number of applicants and actual vacancies. In reality, most applicants never receive invitations for screening, let alone exams or interviews.
The process is often designed to create the illusion of transparency and fairness, while the real motive lies in collecting revenue from the masses of hopeful applicants.
The sale of application forms may appear to be a small transaction in amount, but for the youth these amounts are significant. Some borrow money or sacrifice basic needs to afford these forms, believing they are investing in their future.
When these efforts yield nothing, the psychological and financial toll deepens feelings of hopelessness and erodes trust in our beloved country, Ghana.
The sale of application forms by public organizations and institutions has become an entrenched practice, exposing the vulnerability of the nation’s youth. This practice erodes public confidence in recruitment systems and fuels the perception that opportunities in Ghana are not based on merit, but on manipulation and exploitation.
It undermines the credibility of institutions and widens the gap between citizens and the systems meant to serve them. When thousands of hopeful youth, each pay to apply and only a tiny proportion are admitted or recruited, the cumulative cost becomes a form of wealth extraction from the most vulnerable job seekers. This creates pain, disillusionment, and a profound sense of betrayal, leaving young people financially strained and psychologically scarred.
In January 2019, the government announced plans to centralize admissions into public tertiary institutions through the introduction of a national placement system. This initiative stemmed from recommendations made by a 9-member committee in the 2018 Tertiary Education Policy Document.
According to Prof. Yankah, the proposed centralized admissions system was to be chaired by Prof. Adow Obeng, former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cape Coast and then President of Presbyterian University College. He further indicated that the official inauguration of the system would take place on Thursday, January 17, 2019.
Today, however, Ghanaians are asking: What became of the proposed centralized admissions system?
Honourable Haruna Iddrisu, considering the stress and financial burden the youth of Ghana endure in purchasing multiple application forms for university admissions, could your esteemed Ministry intervene by implementing the centralised admissions system that was promised to the people of Ghana in January 2019?
The sale of application forms beyond actual vacancies violates the ethical principles of fairness, transparency, and equal opportunity enshrined in Ghana’s 1992 Constitution. It also undermines the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 8 & 10) on Decent Work and Reduced Inequality and contradicts the public sector reform agenda aimed at building citizen-centered institutions.
The day after the recruitment stampede at the El-wak stadium, the Minister for Finance, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, announced that the 2026 Budget Statement and Economic Policy of the Government is specifically designed to create up to 800,000 new jobs across various sectors of the economy. While this promise offers a glimmer of hope for the nation’s youth, it also underscores the urgency of addressing systemic exploitation in recruitment processes.
For years, public organizations and institutions have profited from the desperation of young people by selling application forms far in excess of the available vacancies. Without transparent and accountable systems in place, such initiatives risk repeating the cycle of disappointment, leaving many hopeful applicants disillusioned.
To ensure that these new jobs translate into real opportunities, there must be stringent regulation, fair recruitment practices, and mechanisms that protect the most vulnerable from exploitation. The injustice of selling application forms to the desperate youth, which permeates our public organizations and institutions, demands immediate policy and administrative intervention.
Recommendations
The following are recommended for immediate adoption
- Legislative Action by Parliament
Parliament should enact a law to regulate or prohibit the sale of application forms by public institutions for recruitment and admissions. The legislation should provide that:
- All applications for public sector jobs and admissions must be free of charge or limited to a minimal, regulated processing fee approved by Parliament.
- Institutions must disclose the number of available vacancies, selection criteria, and timelines before inviting applications.
- Annual reports on recruitment/admission exercises must be submitted to either Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations (for jobs) or Ministry of Education (for admissions), detailing:
- Number of applications received
- Number shortlisted and selected
- Revenue generated and its use
- Oversight and Enforcement
- Parliamentary Select Committee on Education should have an oversight on the reports submitted to the ministries. Impose administrative sanctions or financial penalties on institutions that sell forms for unapproved or non-existent vacancies, provide wrong information or fail to provide the needed information. The state should mandate the Audit Service to conduct annual reviews of these areas to identify and implement improvements.
- Government should Promote digital recruitment systems that are transparent, efficient, and accessible to all. This is because some institutions defend this practice by claiming that the fees cover administrative costs when online systems can automate application management at minimal or no cost.
- The National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), in collaboration with civil society organizations, should educate the public on their rights.
Conclusion
Selling application forms beyond real vacancies is a national injustice that preys on the unemployed and weakens public trust.
A society that values fairness and integrity cannot allow such practices to continue unchecked. If employment is to serve as a path to dignity and progress, then the gate to that path must be open to all without a price tag.
Parliament must act now to end this practice of national injustice through a legislation that upholds the rights of citizens to fair, transparent, and accessible opportunities.
By Alex Boateng
References
1992 Constitution of Ghana
