Joseph Kwesi Holison, the National Director in charge of Monitoring and Evaluation at the National Youth and Employment Programme (NYEP) has emphatically stated that the NYEP will collapse if a legislative instrument is not set up to sustain it.
According to him, no person can take government to court if it decides to abrogate the programme since it is not backed by any legislative instrument.
He noted that the cancellation of the programme will render the youth jobless which will lead to an increase in the unemployment rate in the country.
“These are our heroes and if we do not honour them with training skills but throw them away then we are doing harm to our nation and the youth. Therefore we should be careful,” he stated.
Mr. Holison made this known at a press briefing on Monday organized by the Central Regional Office of NYEP to enlighten the media on the activities of the programme in Cape Coast.
He hinted that since the introduction of the programme by former President John Agyekum Kufuor, it has been operated under an administrative system known as the Presidential Fiat whereby the President controls all activities of the programme, a situation he said poses threat to the future of the programme.
In an interview with DAILY GUIDE, Mr. Holison disclosed that NYEP came into existence when the National Security, based upon a research it conducted, advised President Kufuor to explore strategies to curb the unemployment situation.
He stated that the national office of NYEP has drafted a bill which is yet to be sent to cabinet and Parliament to be debated and accepted as a legal instrument to back the programme.
Mr. Holison therefore called on government and stakeholders to ensure that a legal instrument is provided to safeguard the programme which has provided most beneficiaries the needed job experience.
Addressing the gathering, the Central Regional Director of NYEP, Nana Osebi Quansah said since he took over in 2009 he has employed 8,584 beneficiaries, representing 22.5 per cent while the National office has also employed about 110,000 as at 2011.
He added that due to the effectiveness of the NYEP modules, President John Atta Mills, together with the NYEP executives, have introduced some modules which include Information Communications Technology (ICT), Youth in Mining, Road Maintenance, Hair Dressing and Dress making to make it attractive to the youth.
Nana Quansah urged the youth not to undermine the programme since it was introduced to give them the requisite skills after school.
Commenting on extortion, which is said to have bedeviled the programme, Nana Quansah said there is no way district and municipal coordinators can deduct the allowances of beneficiaries or demand monies before appointing applicants since appointment and payments are done in Accra through the Agricultural Development Bank (ADB) to the various rural banks.
He added that the allowances of beneficiaries for March and April are ready and will soon be released, adding that his outfit will pay all arrears by the end of August.
He therefore advised beneficiaries to come to his office and report any coordinator, who extort monies from them since there are rules that govern the programme.
From Desmond K. Dapaah, Cape Coast
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