Saltpond (C/R), Jan 17, GNA - Out of 1,820 and 1,242 people who have registered under the National Youth Employment Programme (NYEP) in the Mfantseman and Gomoa Districts respectively only 146 and 263 had so far been placed.
This came to light when the Yabode Concert Party visited the two Districts as part of his tour of the Central Region to organize concert shows in all the 13 Districts to sensitize the youth to register with the NYEP.
Yabode the leader had in a letter of introduction from both the Ministry of Manpower Development and Employment and the Ministry of Local Government Rural Development and Environment directed the Assemblies to provide accommodation for the 15 member concert party. The Assemblies should also had to bear the cost of their feeding, provide public address system, canopies and chairs for the show and also to provide them with some pocket money.
People, Ghana News Agency spoke to after the concert show described the exercise as "needless venture".
Mr Kofi Mensah of Saltpond appealed to DCEs to master courage to reject some directives from "above" if they felt it was not in the interest of the people.
"If the sensitization was done in only one community in each District how about the unemployed in other parts of the Districts?, he asked and added that the money spent on the concert party could have been better spent on buying fuel for the Assemblies' revenue vans to go and do the sensitization in all parts of the Districts if they felt it was necessary to do that.
At Apam Mr Kojo Badu, a driver described the exercise as "causing financial loss to the Assemblies" as the unemployed did not need a concert man to tell him or her where he or she should go for employment. He appealed to the authorities, which gave the concert party the approval to withdraw them immediately.
What was the use of the exercise when those who had registered had not been placed and they kept on going to the offices of the Assemblies to check what was in store for the group. Mr Badu said the NYEP was a lofty programme but if it was not well handled it could make the government unpopular. 17 Jan 07
