NYEP Co-ordinators who indulge in illegal recruitment to face punishment

It has emerged that some district co-ordinators of the National Youth Employment Programme (NYEP) are illegally recruiting unemployed people into the programme.

Two such co-ordinators in the Ashanti and Central Regions have been dismissed while another is on suspension, for the various roles they played in ensuring the recruitment of some youth into the programme without due process.

The National Co-ordinator of the NYEP, Mr Abuga Pele, who is worried about the development, told graphic.com.gh that a taskforce of 200 people was illegally set up in the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly in the name of the NYEP. He said Investigation of the issue, accounted for the dismissal of the Deputy Ashanti Regional Co-ordinator of the programme.

In the recent past, some co-ordinators were reported to have indulged in the sale of NYEP forms to applicants, a crime punishable by law for the fact that the forms are the property of the Government of Ghana and thus, not for sale.

Mr Pele served notice that any officer of the programme engaged in acts that had the tendency to compromise the credibility of the programme would be dealt with according to law, stressing that the NYEP was the flagship programme of the government designed to reduce unemployment among the youth.

He suspected that some youth who had threatened to hit the streets in protest against the delay in the payment of their allowances, were probably, not genuine beneficiaries of the programme and therefore called on such people to personally hold those who recruited them responsible for their allowances.

Asked about the exit plan for the programme, the national co-ordinator said beneficiaries, who desired to continue to work, could re-apply for a year's renewal and urged beneficiaries to take advantage of that provision to renew their appointment.

Under the programme, applicants are recruited for a two-year period. Apart from the category that allows for renewal, beneficiaries automatically exit after the two-year period.

Mr Pele said the exit plan is being implemented to ensure that beneficiaries leaving the programme after the two-year mandatory service are supported to obtain permanent employment or pursue further education.

The plan currently operates around Health Extension Workers, Youth in Security Services, Youth in Community Education, Teaching Assistants and the Internship modules.

Under the plan, arrangement is made for beneficiaries to be permanently engaged by institutions or given top-up training to be engaged by those organisations.

Meanwhile, work is on-going to identify all beneficiaries who have not yet been paid for them to be paid all outstanding arrears before August this year.