Moses Asaga hands over to his successor

Mr Moses Asaga has formally handed-over his position as Minister of Employment and Labour Relations to his successor, Nii Armah Ashietey, at a ceremony in Accra.

Mr Asaga welcomed Nii Ashietey and urged him to stand firm to tackle the major issues facing the Ministry including that of habitual lateness of staff members to work.

He said the Ghana Youth Employment Development Agency has been included in the Ministry's portfolio and urged him to fight for its successful implementation.

Mr Asaga said during his tenure he defended issues of child labour and the improvement of the LEAP grant to support pro-poor programmes.

The out-going Minister also congratulated his successor on his appointment saying he was chosen because of his competence and experience in labour issues and local government issues.

Mr Asaga urged Nii Ashietey not to relent in his efforts but to work to the best of his ability so that his predecessors and successors would be proud of him

He wished his successor God’s blessings and strength and also called on the staff of the Ministry to offer the new minister the maximum cooperation to enable him to effectively implement policies under government's Better Ghana Agenda.

Mr Asaga also expressed appreciation to the staff of the Ministry and heads of departments for helping him to do his job during his nine months stay at the Ministry.

Nii Ashietey expressed appreciation to Mr Asaga and staff of the Ministry for the warm welcome given him since his assumption of office.

He said he was there to emulate the good work of his predecessor and also try to make a mark before he handed over. He appealed to members of staff to give him the needed support.

“Team work is very important in order to make progress and we all have to play our roles as team players very well”, he said.

Nii Ashietey said youth unemployment had become a global issue and that adequate measures would be put in place to provide jobs for the ordinary people.

He said employment issues must be deepened and placed at the core of the development of the country and the Ministry must take full control of providing employment opportunities for the people.

“Industrial unrest has become the order of the day as most labour organizations have resorted to strike actions and every one would point fingers at this Ministry, and so we must work hard so that the dream of the Ministry to create jobs for the people becomes a reality,” he said, adding that “we have to promote fairness and equity in our public sector wage management”.

Nii Ashietey told his predecessor the Ministry's doors would always be open to him and that he would appreciate criticism and welcome any suggestions from him.