Minister commends two districts

Dormaa-Ahenkro (B/A), July 12, GNA- Alhaji Boniface Abubakar Saddique, Minister of Manpower, Youth and Employment, has commended the Dormaa district office of the National Youth Employment Programme, for excelling in all five modules adopted by the district. Alhaji Saddique mentioned Afram Plains in the Eastern and Dormaa in the Brong-Ahafo regions respectively as the two most outstanding districts in the implementation of chosen modules of the programme. The Minister was addressing the management and workers of the NYEP at Dormaa-Ahenkro as part of a tour of Brong-Ahafo to acquaint himself with progress of the implementation of the programme.

Alhaji Saddique said in 2006 alone, his ministry expended 1.1 trillion cedis on the programme, while recruitment "now stands at 98,000 with community teaching assistants and health extension staff alone receiving 31 billion cedis in allowances every month.

He disclosed that funding for the programme was derived from seven dedicated sources of the GETFUND, HIPC fund, district assembly common fund, national health insurance levy, investments and services. The Minister assured Ghanaians of the programme's sustainability and improvement as the government was prepared to accept suggestions and recommendations from individuals and groups for consideration. Alhaji Saddique observed that the community-policing module was very dear to the formulators of the programme and described as unfortunate the notion by some people that the idea was unconstitutional and designed to favour the NPP during elections.

He said the notion was wrong because the NPP never had any party police during the past two general elections yet it won handsomely. The Minister reiterated that the programme was a national policy devoid of any form of corruption and selected justice and urged Ghanaians to regard it as their property, which should be protected and defended at all times.

Alhaji Saddique stated that the programme was designed primarily to provide "a stepping stone" for the employees to either better their academic status or aspire towards more permanent jobs. He advised the employees not to rest on their oars but to strive to raise their standard of living.

The Minister advised them against demonstrations and other violent forms of registering their grievances, adding, they should encourage dialogue and consensus building instead. Squadron Leader Ben Anane-Asamoah (rtd), District Chief Executive (DCE), commended the government for initiating the programme, which he said had afforded the youth with the rare opportunity to create wealth for themselves and their dependants. The DCE said the youth in the agriculture segment of the programme currently had an 85-acre maize farm and hoped to include other crops with time. Mr. Henry Kofi Oppong, District youth employment coordinator, announced that 100 community teaching assistants had beefed up the teacher population, while 70 health extension workers had also begun practical attachment with various medical facilities in the district. He said 53 were engaged on the 85-acre maize farm while 26 others were engaged with the Zoom Lion Company to promote sanitation in the district.

Mr. Oppong indicated that Dormaa's strategic border position with La Cote D'Ivoire required the immediate implementation of the community-policing module to step up security and clamp down on criminals in the district.

He appealed to the Minister to consider p aying the employees through the programme's office account so as to offset the usual long processes involved in the acquisition of workers' allowances. The district coordinator announced that so far only 326 applicants had been placed, out of a total of 1,436 applicants.