National Youth Policy to come before parliament soon

Accra, Feb. 22, GNA - The National Youth Policy, which takes into account various issues, including good governance, human resource development with emphasis on the millennium development goals is expected before parliament by the last quarter of this year.

Mr Abubakar Siddque Boniface, Minister of Manpower, Youth and Employment, responding to questions in Parliament on Thursday, said a regional and national stakeholders' review meeting have been scheduled for next month to finalise work on policy before submission to cabinet. He said the policy having gone through various processes with the participation of key stakeholders would enable government to come out with " refined policy that can effectively address concerns of the youth and also stand the test of time."

Responding to another question on how the National Youth Fund was being disbursed and what accounted for its delay in disbursement in the Ashanti and other regions, Mr Boniface said cabinet approved the establishment of the fund in 2001.

He said the scheme was initiated to address youth unemployment through the extension of credit and loans and seed money of 10 billion cedis out of the estimated 50 billion cedis was approved for the programme.

The Minister said actual releases of the seed money began in September 2004 with 2,397,595,822 billion cedis as the first tranche after which the programme was suspended.

Mr Boniface said the suspension followed government's decision to plough the National Youth Fund into the National Youth Employment Programme (NYEP) funding.

"The NYEP is a more holistic approach geared towards providing more decent and secured job opportunities for the teeming youth" In another development, members of parliament have touched on the need for all Ghanaians to join in the 50th anniversary celebrations, irrespective of their ideology or political leanings.

According to them, there was every reason to celebrate because Ghana, despite the many problems and political upheavals, has been relatively stable and peaceful.

Members were contributing to a statement on the anniversary celebration and multiparty democracy made on the floor of the house by Mr Isaac Asiamah, (NPP-Atwima Mponua).

He said in pursuing to entrench democracy, the nation needed to look at some of the shortcomings pointed out in the country report on the African Peer Review Mechanism, which among others, touched on fact that the Electoral Commission was inadequately resourced and the fact that women were not well represented in the nation's political life Mr Jonathan Nii Tackie Kommey, (NDC-Odododiodoo) urged the nation to recognize the role of the founding fathers and other prominent citizens such as chiefs who had contributed significantly to development.

The House later passed the Central Securities Depository Bill into law after taking it through the third reading.

The object of the Bill is to provide for the establishment of a depository to regulate dealings in securities.

According to a report of the Finance Committee, the Bill "provides for Central Securities Depositories to be approved with power to make rules for its members and operators........under the supervision of the Security and Exchange Commission. It also provides for the holding of securities in immobilized or dematerialized form."

The establishment of a Central Securities Depository is a vision embodied in the National Financial Sector Plan as part of government's effort to develop a vibrant bond and secondary market in the country and to ensure a prompt and efficient clearing and settlement system, which reduces the systemic risk of the current system.

The report said while government securities are currently issued and traded in boot entry or electronic form, corporate securities are required by the Companies Code to be issued and traded in certificated form.