Youth Employment Agency in secret recruitment, online servers deactivated

Management of the Youth Employment Agency have been caught in an alleged scheme to recruit 2017 beneficiaries of the program through unconventional means.

Speaking to abusuafmonline.com, an anonymous source at the secretariat alleged, management of the Agency have removed all internet servers from the head office and set up application processing station at a hotel in East Legon, a suburb of Accra where people are being shortlisted and given instant appointment letters.

Meanwhile, all applicants, according to the Legislative Instrument establishing the Youth Employment Agency, are supposed to be interviewed at the district level and shortlisted before final recruitment into the various modules of the Agency.

According to Section 5 of the Youth Employment Agency legal frame work, (2) The Agency shall, within three months after the expiry of the deadline for submission of applications, (a) place eligible applicants in selected programmes or employment modules; (b) publish the placement on (i)the website of the Agency; and (ii)on the notice board of the relevant Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assembly.

If the report proves to be true, then the act is a direct contravention of the Legislative Instrument setting up the Youth Employment Agency.

Our source says, “we are suspecting they may even be removing some beneficiaries from the portal to make way for undeserving or favourite people because it doesn’t make sense that they will move all servers from the head office to such a place and without the official IT guys, the IT persons that removed the servers and manipulating the registration here are all members of the NPP IT support team who handled their elections IT system.”

“The server was moved under shadows of darkness last night and worked throughout the night ahead of this secret processes,” he revealed.

The source also disclosed, “the software procured for the registration has been illegally replaced without due process and the authorisation of a Governing Board.”

“The shortlisting and selection processes according to the YEA LI must be done by the district offices in connection with the implementation partners.”

“What is happening is that, they requested for all application forms to be moved from the district offices to the regions and then to head office,” he said.

The source added, “by the current arrangement, management is trying to shortlist people through the back door instead of going through the laid down procedures which offers every applicant equal opportunity to be selected.”

He adds, “management can only do such shortlisting when they have predetermined lists, I think this action is criminal and must be taken up by EOCO, the CID or even some audit must be conducted into the operations without delay.”

Meanwhile several efforts by abusuafmonline.com to obtain an interview with Public Relations Officer for the Youth Employment Agency, Mohammed Awal proved futile as he refused to respond to our WhatsApp messages seeking for a response even though it shows he has read our messages.