Vilification, partisanship at YEA must cease – Minority

The Minority in Parliament has challenged government to publish ghost names which they said existed on the payroll of the Youth Employment Agency (YEA).

Class FM’s Ekow Annan, who attended a press conference organised by the Minority, reported that the Ranking Member for the Youth, Sports and Culture Committee, Kobena Mensah Woyome, accused the current management of vilification and extreme partisanship following the dismissal of employees recruited by the erstwhile National Democratic Congress (NDC) government

It would be recalled that management of YEA disclosed recently that that some 2,999 beneficiaries of the agency who are no longer at post continued to draw their allowances.

As a result, YEA has suspended the payment of allowances to beneficiaries. The Agency discovered the discrepancy after a preliminary audit of its payroll.

The audit further revealed that payments were made to some beneficiaries with no work done, some beneficiaries had not been paid since May 2016 leading to huge arrears, and some beneficiaries were working without appointment letters.

According to a statement by the Agency signed by the Acting Deputy CEO in Charge of Operations, Bashiru Ibrahim, the preliminary audit has saved the agency and the taxpayer GHS1,067,700 per month.

“On the basis of these findings, management has commissioned the Internal Audit Agency to conduct a special audit into the operations of the agency. This has become necessary in order to provide a platform for the new administration to take measures to prevent the scandals that rocked the Agency in the past,” the statement said.