MPs Were Left in the Dark ...

..About Registration of the Jobless

THE MEMBER OF Parliament for Atiwa constituency, Hon. Dr. Charles Yaw Brempong-Yeboah, has said that Members of Parliament; the true representatives of the people, were not adequately informed about the on-going exercise to register the unemployed in the country.

According to him, it came to the notice of Members of Parliament only about about 5-6 days to the exercise when they read about it in the newspapers.

He has therefore requested the Ministry of Manpower Development and Employment together with the Ministry of Finance; the architects of the ongoing registration of unemployed and underemployed youths to extend the exercise for another week for full coverage considering the momentum now building up throughout the country.

There are fears that the two-week exercise scheduled to end on the 15th of this month might not have any impact on the majority of the people especially in the rural area where logistics for the exercise is inadequate considering the large number of unemployed youths and the late arrival of information to these remote communities.

Presenting his statement in Parliament last Wednesday, Hon. Brempong-Yeboah commended the exercise which is meant to solve the multifaceted unemployment problems bequeathed to the country by the previous administrators.

Hon. Brempong-Yeboah noted that due to the inadequate logistics, his constituency with 50 settlements had a team of two persons handling the exercise which is scheduled to last for two weeks.

He said even though the people were educated to register at the nearest large towns when the teams arrived, information reaching him indicates that large townships in the constituency such as Awurensua, Kadawaso, Sankubenase and a few more have not been attended to at all by the registration team.

This, he suspects, would be the same situation in other constituencies.

Contributing to the statement on the floor of Parliament, the Member of Parliament (MP) for Gomoa West, Hon. Ama Benyiwa-Doe, contended that the registration exercise was uncoordinated and this has caused the problems confronting the exercise.

On her part, the MP for Shama, Hon. Mrs. Baiden-Amissah, contended that the exercise is laudable and urged all Ghanaians to support it since jobs would be provided for the unemployed youths in the country.

Taking his stand on the issue, the MP for Bole, Hon. John Mahama, argued that if Parliament had been consulted consulted before the commencement of the exercise, good suggestions could have been provided to stop people with credible jobs from registering as it is the case now, adding that the outcome of the exercise would not conform to the actual situation on the ground.

Hon. Mahama noted that the expectations of the people have been heightened due to the nature of the advertisements issued on the exercise.

Counteracting the statement made by Hon. Mahama, the MP for Effiduase Asokore, Hon. Mrs. Grace Coleman, said the exercise was the result of the economic dialogue, which took place this year and therefore nobody should think that Parliament was not consulted.

Earlier on, answering questions on the floor of Parliament, the Minister for Women & Children Affairs and MP for Takoradi, Hon. Mrs Gladys Asmah, said her ministry in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance is establishing a micro-finance fund at the Bank of Ghana for women to access credit for their economic ventures at very favourable interest rates.

She said farmers, artisans and petty traders would be able to access the credit through the rural communities and other banks in their localities.

She further stated that her Ministry has the intension of implementing a training programme nationwide for both women already in business and those to start new businesses to acquire skills in book-keeping and entrepreneurship, adding that, "Operation Produce More Gari" launched by her Ministry would support producers of cassava add value to their produce for both local consumption and for export.

This she noted would empower women and the youth to enhance their socio-economic development.

The minister said 75% of women working in the informal sector have the problem of finance and if these women were given credit facilities, the situation would change through improved productivity, adding that $3million initial capital has been provided through the micro-credit fund to women groups through micro-finance institutions at the various communities.

Hon. Asmah said her Ministry is collaborating with other ministries such as the Ministry of Finance, Regional Economic Co-operation, Trade & Industry, Tourism, Agriculture, Education, Health and Foreign Affairs, among others, in achieving its objectives of ensuring the full integration of women in all spheres of development.

In addition she said, her outfit would establish linkages with banks, micro-financing and credit institutions, National Board for Small-scale Industries and other Non-governmental Organisations (NGOs) to ensure the full integration of women into the mainstream of the economic development of the country.