Mahama's saboteurs at work!

A very simple directive from the Office of the President for the re-alignment of some Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to ensure harmony in the conduct of government business is being sabotaged by certain people who are to help in ensuring the success of the Mahama administration.

In fact, some ministers and directors of the affected ministries and agencies are dragging their feet in ensuring that the smooth re-alignment directive is carried out successfully.

The Enquirer newspaper can state without any fear of contradiction that a clique at the Ministry of Youth and Sports, for instance, is not happy that the Ghana Youth Employment and Entrepreneurial Development Agency (GYEEDA), formerly National Youth Employment Programme (NYEP), has been moved to the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations.

Indeed, moves to help the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations to take full control of GYEEDA have been slowed down by the clique.

Although the directive was issued as early as March 4, this year, the Ministry of Youth and Sports is not doing much to ensure the smooth re-alignment of GYEEDA to the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations.

It is instructive to know that GYEEDA has been in the news in recent time for alleged acts of corruption and malfeasance.

Because of that, the President in his own wisdom directed that there should not be the introduction of new modules, while the old modules are being properly looked into.

In that directive issued by Mr. Prosper D.K Bani, the chief of staff, and addressed to ministries to be affected by the re-alignment, it was indicated that any ministry or person with any question should contact Dr. Sulley Gariba, Senior Policy Coordinator at the Presidency.

It is however unclear as to whether or not the clique and the Youth hand Sports Ministry have done any such thing.

Ministries that were affected by the re-alignment include Information and Media Relations, Environment, Science and Technology and Innovation, Gender, Children and Social Protection and Ministry of Energy and Petroleum.

Others were Trade and Industry, Employment and Labour Relations, Chieftaincy and Traditional Affairs, Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts and Fisheries and Aquaculture Development.

The placement of GYEEDA under the Ministry of Youth and Sports created lots of public debate because the programme was directly related to employment.

The Trade Union Congress (TUC) could be mentioned as one of the institutions that were not happy with the earlier arrangement.

In its statement commenting on the 2013 Budget Statement, the TUC proposed that the government should consider relocating GYEEDA to its natural home, the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations, since the programme was more about employment than anything else.

More To Come!