We’ll punish persons implicated in GYEEDA report – Mahama

President John Dramani Mahama has received an investigative report on alleged financial malfeasance at the Ghana Youth Employment and Entrepreneurial Development Agency.

He said the recommendations contained in the report will be studied carefully and a review of the GYEEDA's operations immediately conducted.

President Mahama said, "it is our intention to review and restructure GYEEDA radically based on the report that you have presented to ensure that the objectives for which it was set up are met and met in a timely and efficient manner and in a manner that ensures that the resources that government is committing to it give us value for money."

Joy News' reports on plain stealing and financial misappropriation of funds at GYEEDA occasioned an investigation by the government.

The Minister for Youth and Sports, Mr Elvis Afriyie Ankrah, set up a five-member committee to investigate the reports.

The committee chaired by Ferdinand Gunn, identified widespread maladministration at the Agency which Mr. Gunn summed as "breakdown in the governance structure" of GYEEDA.

Read below the comments of the president after he received the report as posted on his website.

Let me start by thanking the Committee for a very good work you have done in the period that you were required to do so and expeditiously carrying out the assignment that we gave to you.

We know that GYEEDA was set up as a flagship project to provide skills development for young people to prepare them for the world of work.

One of the major problems our country has faced is that a lot of our young people graduating from the educational system are not equipped with the skills that can readily find them a job in the labour market.

That is what brought about the concept of GYEEDA. GYEEDA was supposed to be a quick training programme that equipped these young people with skills and provided them even with the materials with which they could go and start to earn a living.

Unfortunately in recent times there has been an outcry by individuals, by media institutions, by integrity organisations and other think tanks about the way GYEEDA was managed. The Minister was asked to set up a committee to go into the whole setup and as the chairman of the committee read, the terms of reference were quite clear and as a result of that this report has been presented to us today.

Government will go into the report, and especially, study your recommendations carefully and it is our intention to review and restructure GYEEDA radically based on the report that you have presented to ensure that the objectives for which it was set up are met and met in a timely and efficient manner and in a manner that ensures that the resources that government is committing to it give us value for money.

Government is willing to invest in equipping our young people with skills and it is a good thing to do but it must be done in a way that the resource of the nation and the hard earned taxpayer’s money is used efficiently to be able to achieve that objective.

Government is willing to partner with the private sector because government alone cannot undertake all the training that is required for young people. And so it is ready to partner with the private sector but it must be done in a way that ensures that it is done with accountability in mind and probity.

We are going to study the report and in the next few days, weeks, begin to implement those recommendations in a very firm manner.

I will want to thank you very much for the work you have done and to assure you that the product of your work will be a GYEEDA that is more efficient, a GYEEDA that is better managed, a GYEEDA that is accountable to the people of Ghana and a GYEEDA that has governance practices that are up to date with modern times.