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General News of Wednesday, 31 October 2001

Source: --

Long queues recorded at Wa unemployment registration centre

On the first day of the two-week nation wide exercise to register unemployed and under employed citizens, about two thousand people converged at the Wa District Labour Office registration centre in response to the exercise.

The Ghana News Agency said when it visited the centre this morning there were very long queues of men, women and teenagers under the blazing sun waiting for their turn.

However, the exercise was so slow that most of them left to come another day within the two-week period. As at 10:00 hours the two registration assistants detailed at the centre had registered 20 people.

Mr Rexford Gyabaah, Wa District Labour Officer, said they never expected such a large turnout and needed more assistants to quicken the pace of the exercise.

He complained of inadequate forms saying only 500 forms were available at the Wa centre but was optimistic that more forms would be made available as the exercise progressed.

Those who have so far registered fall within the 18-52 years age category. A number of people interviewed said the exercise should be decentralised to the polling station level to make it succeed.

They also complained that publicity for the programme was not adequate and this has put many affected citizens in the dark.