Regional News of Friday, 6 February 2015

Source: GNA

‘Expedite action on Youth Employment Agency Bill’

The People’s National Convention (PNC) has asked Parliament to quicken the passage of the Youth Employment Agency (YEA) Bill, which was currently before it, to help the teeming unemployed youth in the country to better their living conditions.

This is because the legislature would do the youth and the country a big favour by relieving the society of the security threat that unemployment posed to the state.

These were contained in a press release which was signed by Mr. MacDonald Kobbs Tongo, PNC Central Regional Secretary, and copied to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) on Wednesday in Cape Coast.

The statement said the National Youth Employment Programme (NYEP), which was introduced to reduce, if not curtail youth unemployment in the system was seen as a national threat, because it was not backed by law.

It was in this light that the YEA Bill was drafted for the House to pass and for the government to implement.

However, the statement inferred that the passage of the Bill was long overdue; calling on the legislators to fast track the 32 amendments of the Bill so it could be passed on time to tame the unemployment menace.

“As the saying goes, ‘Justice delayed is justice denied,’ I plead with the Distinguished House to quicken the passage of the YEA Bill to free the youth of Ghana of this unemployment quagmire,” the statement added.

It urged all political parties, civil society organizations, religious bodies and traditional authorities to take the issue serious as it was incumbent on all as citizens to safeguard the future of the country.