Written by Keziah-Norah Breindel Lécosson

Frustrated by months of unfulfilled promises, graduates with disabilities have taken their demand for jobs to Ghana’s seat of government, saying repeated meetings, petitions and official assurances have yielded little action.

Speaking to Asaase News, Coalition of Graduates with Disabilities convener Gilbert Agyare said the group had exhausted official channels before picketing the Jubilee House on Tuesday, 19 August, to submit another petition.

Agyare said the coalition had previously petitioned the Jubilee House through a representative but received no meaningful response.

“Today, the government says that financial clearance has been issued for persons with disabilities to be included into the system. Nobody will pay attention to it anymore,” he said.

He questioned why the coalition should have to picket if, as the government says, financial provisions have already been made to integrate persons with disabilities into the public sector.

The coalition’s frustration centres on the failure to implement a long-promised 5 percent public-sector employment quota for persons with disabilities.

Under Ghana’s Persons with Disability Act, 2006 (Act 715), sections 9 to 12 provide for the employment of persons with disabilities, protection of their employment and access to the tools and facilities necessary to perform their work. The law also requires the relevant ministry to assist persons with disabilities in securing employment through public employment centres.

The government has also previously promised incentives for businesses owned by persons with disabilities and for institutions that employ them.

The graduates say they have repeatedly been assured that these commitments would be implemented.

In February 2026, Agyare met the Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection, Dr Agnes Naa Momo Lartey, together with officials of the National Council on Persons with Disability. The meeting focused on gaps in the implementation of disability employment policies.

Lartey assured the delegation that persons with disabilities would be included in employment opportunities.

“I want to assure you that you will not be left behind. The government is committed to ensuring that persons with disabilities, including unemployed graduates, are meaningfully included in employment opportunities and national development efforts,” she said.

In March, the minister announced a comprehensive data-collection exercise on persons with disabilities to improve job matching, with placements expected to be phased across different sectors.

The coalition then submitted a verified list of 200 qualified graduates holding diplomas and degrees in education and humanities to the Ghana Education Service for its recruitment exercise in April.

Despite assurances that the 5 percent quota would apply, none of the 200 graduates secured a position, according to the coalition, even as about 7,000 teachers were recruited.

By August, five months after the meeting with the minister, the graduates said they had seen no placements and little evidence of progress.

They therefore took their campaign to Jubilee House, demanding concrete action rather than further assurances.

Behind the policy dispute are graduates who say they have qualifications but remain unable to find work.

Members of the coalition said they have families and dependants and that prolonged unemployment was taking a toll on their mental wellbeing.

“We have lives and families as well as people that we heavily depend on,” members said, describing the daily uncertainty as a “state of restlessness”.

They warned that continued failure to address their concerns could worsen socio-economic tensions, despite their efforts to pursue their demands through lawful channels.

The coalition is calling for the 5 percent quota to be made operational and enforceable rather than remaining a policy commitment.

It also wants recruitment bodies to publish results and disclose how many applicants with disabilities are recruited in each exercise.

Other demands include a dedicated recruitment pathway for qualified graduates with disabilities, dedicated slots in public-sector recruitment exercises and stronger engagement with the private sector to expand employment opportunities beyond government.

The Ministry of Gender has indicated that it intends to strengthen data systems and establish a database to support job placement.

For the graduates, however, the issue is no longer a lack of information about who needs work.

They want the data, policies and promises to translate into actual employment.

“All that is honestly left to do is to implement what has been promised,” the coalition said.