GYEEDA only way to reduce unemployment – Abuga Pele

Abuga Pele, former Executive Director of the Ghana Youth Employment and Entrepreneurial Development Agency (GYEEDA), says the programme remains the only practical means of reducing unemployment rate among the youth.

Though he agrees there is no alternative to a system which creates jobs through industrial, manufacturing, and an active public versus private sector, Mr Pele said the youth employment programme is for now, the most viable way by which job opportunities could be created for the youth.

Mr Abuga Pele was speaking on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show Tuesday.

He explained that apart from the over 400,000 beneficiaries currently on the programme, there were over 1,000,000 more people who have registered to participate in it.

The numbers, he reasoned, were high due to the increasing levels of poverty in the country which has pushed large numbers of people to keep “clamouring for jobs” in order to make ends meet.

The Member of Parliament for Chiaga Paga stressed that even in countries where well-established systems for job creation are available, unemployment still exists.

He maintained that certain interventions must be put place to cater for people who have no jobs.

Mr Abuga Pele advised, the focus must be on improving the programme to ensure it accomplishes its aims, create efficiency and ensure that “waste is reduced” in order to increase the numbers of beneficiaries while widening the scope of the youth employment programme.