General News of Monday, 2 April 2018

Source: 3news.com

Former coordinators to face Special Prosecutor for ‘mismanaging’ YEA funds

Former staff would be dragged before the Special Prosecutor for allegedly mismanaging over GHC8m Former staff would be dragged before the Special Prosecutor for allegedly mismanaging over GHC8m

Some former regional coordinators of the Youth Employment Agency (YEA) are likely to be hauled before the Special Prosecutor for allegedly mismanaging over eight million cedis.

A YEA document sighted by 3news.com indicated that a National Public Sensitization Program was held from 25th October to 15th November 2016 in which an amount of GHC8,150,014.04 was transferred to various YEA accounts with the ADB at the regional level.

Greater Accra and the Ashanti regions received 1,585,990 and 1,303,524 respectively, the highest per the distribution.

3news.com however gathered that “another three hundred and fifty thousand Ghana Cedis (GHC350,000.00) was released to the National Technical Committee for the same exercise.”

According to the Agency, there is no record showing how all these monies were utilised by the regional coordinators.

The Monitoring and Evaluation Directorate of the YEA, led by its Acting Director Chris Arthur, is currently reviewing the National Public Sensitization Program held in 2016.

“The M&E Directorate, having the role of quality assurance of concept and design, is to ensure performance accountability, value for money, program quality, adherence to YEA core mandate and regulatory compliance is having difficulty to ascertain the viability of the said exercise, having no report on it as to how that huge money was spent, is conducting a review on the exercise,” a copy of YEA document signed by Mr. Arthur stated.

The Directorate has since invited the staff involved, including past acting regional directors who supposedly played active roles in the exercise to help explain how the program was carried out.

For instance, a letter inviting the former Greater Accra Regional Coordinator, Solomon N.A. Quartey for a review meeting explained: “The M&E Directorate, having a role of quality assurance of concept and design, is to ensure performance accountability, program quality, adherence to YEA core values and regulatory compliance.”

3news.com has gathered that Solomon Quartey met the new directors at the YEA last week, March 26 over the alleged financial mismanagement.

A source at the Agency told 3news.com former staff who fail to give convincing explanation as to how the over 8 million cedis was expended would be dragged to the Special Prosecutor for possible conviction.