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Minister commends two districts
Dormaa-Ahenkro (B/A),
July 12, GNA- Alhaji Boniface Abubakar Saddique, Minister of
Manpower, Youth and Employment, has commended the Dormaa
district office of the National Youth Employment Programme,
for excelling in all five modules adopted by the district.
Alhaji Saddique mentioned Afram Plains in the Eastern and
Dormaa in the Brong-Ahafo regions respectively as the two
most outstanding districts in the implementation of chosen
modules of the programme.
The Minister was addressing the management and workers of
the NYEP at Dormaa-Ahenkro as part of a tour of Brong-Ahafo
to acquaint himself with progress of the implementation of
the programme.
Alhaji Saddique said in 2006 alone, his ministry expended
1.1 trillion cedis on the programme, while recruitment "now
stands at 98,000 with community teaching assistants and
health extension staff alone receiving 31 billion cedis in
allowances every month.
He disclosed that funding for the programme was derived from
seven dedicated sources of the GETFUND, HIPC fund, district
assembly common fund, national health insurance levy,
investments and services.
The Minister assured Ghanaians of the programme's
sustainability and improvement as the government was
prepared to accept suggestions and recommendations from
individuals and groups for consideration.
Alhaji Saddique observed that the community-policing module
was very dear to the formulators of the programme and
described as unfortunate the notion by some people that the
idea was unconstitutional and designed to favour the NPP
during elections.
He said the notion was wrong because the NPP never had any
party police during the past two general elections yet it
won handsomely.
The Minister reiterated that the programme was a national
policy devoid of any form of corruption and selected justice
and urged Ghanaians to regard it as their property, which
should be protected and defended at all times.
Alhaji Saddique stated that the programme was designed
primarily to provide "a stepping stone" for the employees to
either better their academic status or aspire towards more
permanent jobs.
He advised the employees not to rest on their oars but to
strive to raise their standard of living.
The Minister advised them against demonstrations and other
violent forms of registering their grievances, adding, they
should encourage dialogue and consensus building instead.
Squadron Leader Ben Anane-Asamoah (rtd), District Chief
Executive (DCE), commended the government for initiating the
programme, which he said had afforded the youth with the
rare opportunity to create wealth for themselves and their
dependants.
The DCE said the youth in the agriculture segment of the
programme currently had an 85-acre maize farm and hoped to
include other crops with time.
Mr. Henry Kofi Oppong, District youth employment
coordinator, announced that 100 community teaching
assistants had beefed up the teacher population, while 70
health extension workers had also begun practical attachment
with various medical facilities in the district.
He said 53 were engaged on the 85-acre maize farm while 26
others were engaged with the Zoom Lion Company to promote
sanitation in the district.
Mr. Oppong indicated that Dormaa's strategic border position
with La Cote D'Ivoire required the immediate implementation
of the community-policing module to step up security and
clamp down on criminals in the district.
He appealed to the Minister to consider paying the employees
through the programme's office account so as to offset the
usual long processes involved in the acquisition of workers'
allowances.
The district coordinator announced that so far only 326
applicants had been placed, out of a total of 1,436
applicants.
GNA
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