Deputy Central Regional Minister, Thomas Agyie Baffour, says he will complement the work of the Regional Minister to among other things, reverse the region’s negative outlook as the fourth poorest region in the country.

He said solving the issue of teeming unemployment among the youth in the region is something that they would give priority to. He said there is already a proposal to the Regional Minister, Kwame Duncan, to hold a stakeholder meeting to design a blueprint for the development of the region, which he observed, has a lot of tourism and natural mineral potential as well as the needed human resources.

“The position is nice but very challenging,” he said of his new job, adding “One is unable to sleep because I ask myself always that by the time I leave as a deputy minister, what impact would I have on the youth, especially the teeming unemployed youth”. At a media interaction Monday, Mr Baffour said they will work towards ensuring that the youth get jobs to do to earn a living.

The Deputy Minister also raised concern about the galamsey menace which is destroying the country’s water bodies and environment at large. He blamed the galamsey menace on unemployment. He said the Pra and Offin rivers which were once drinkable have now been polluted by the activities of galamsey.

“We need to restructure and regularize it [galamsey]. In every human endeavour, man should try to do his best and leave the balance sheet to God and posterity. We should think of posterity and not what we will gain today,” he advised. Mr Baffour also underscored the need to solve the galamsey problem so that “there will not be a loser or a winner”.

Meanwhile, he has expressed best wishes for the students writing the ongoing WASSCE being organised by the West African Examination Council.