Open Letter To His Excellency President John Dramani Mahama

23rd March, 2015.

OPEN LETTER TO HIS EXCELLENCY PRESIDENT JOHN DRAMANI MAHAMA

His Excellency the President

of the Republic of Ghana

Accra.

Dear Sir,

RECONSTITUTION OF THE NATIONAL YOUTH AUTHORITY ( NYA) BOARD

On behalf of the entire students and the youth of Ghana we write to your office to take a second look at the delay in reconstituting the NYA Board and to humbly impress upon you to do so in the interest of the youth of Ghana.

His Excellency President John Dramani Mahama, we wish to bring to your notice that your further delay in this subject matter will subtly undermine your much tauted commitment to youth development.

Since 2012 that the tenure of the current NYA Board expired, as per the NYA Act 1974 (NRCD 241) and as amended by (NRCD 300), no new Board has been formed with reference to section (3) of the NYA Act. Hence the Board as it in existence is an illegal entity; in spite of it claims as a caretaker Board, without powers to make major policy decisions.

Furtherance to this the students and for that matter the youth of Ghana believe that:

The Board is the eye of the Public as regarding the operations of the Authority and also the check to oversee the operations of the officers of the authority. It is for this reason that respected organizations like NUGS have representation on the Board. However, since the legal expiration of the tenure of the caretaker Board, our Union's new representative has not been inducted into office.

His Excellency the old representative of NUGS for instance see himself as your representative and not of NUGS and so we are kept in the dark concerning the development of the youth of Ghana and the operations of the National Youth Authority. Unfortunately for the youth of this country, the current national coordinator of the NYA seems to be very unfriendly towards the concerns of various youth groups in the country. His inaccessibility and 'lack' of the needed leadership that will inspire the youth is of a great concern to us.

His Excellency we are not without conviction that the Board of Trustees of the NYA represents the positive direction of the NYA as well as a monitoring machinery behind the operations of the NYA's front line workers.

His Excellency the above mentioned denied the Union participation and access to the processes that led to the drafting of the implementation plan of the National Youth Policy making it virtually impossible for the Union to input it's perspectives into the document.

We were also left out in the processes that led to the formation of the YES Fund and its onward distribution and as it stands now we are yet to be briefed as a Union on why the non representation of NUGS in all the processes that culminated in the YES initiative since it impinged on the youth with premium on ameliorating graduate unemployment. We have the belief that the Union's involvement would have provided a larger platform for the dissemination of the YES initiative to the prospective beneficiaries.

It is on this note that we humbly write on behalf of the students and the youth of Ghana to solicit your immediate attention to the neglected demands of the youth of Ghana, and ensure that the NYA Board is legally reconstituted now.

Yours in service to the Nation,

Signed:

Prince David Orchill,

NUGS Rep. to the NYA Board

0201114062/0203244855

Prosper Dzitse,

NUGS President

0546580044

Cc:

The Minister for Youth and Sports

Minister for Education

The Chief of Staff

The Attorney General

The NYA National Coordinator

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