The Youth Employment Agency (YEA) has described as false claims that it owes some beneficiaries '16 months’ salary arrears.

The Agency, in a release dated April 29, 2021, indicated that since 2017, salary payments have been regular and prompt, adding that currently, only March 2021 allowances are pending payment.

This follows a story published earlier on universnewsroom.com where an aggrieved Supervisor under the Youth in Afforestation programme, Bossman Adu-Twum Anin, stated that some beneficiaries have not been paid for 5 months.

Mr. Adu-Twum Anin, who was speaking in an interview on Campus Exclusive on Tuesday, April 27, 2021, recounted that all frantic efforts made to get their 5-month salary paid have yielded no results.

“Since December 2020 till date, we haven’t been paid, and we’ve been talking about this issue for long."

“The moment you mention it, they will come up and say they are working on it, everything is in the pipeline…you know this kind of political talk. For we at YEA, we don’t know where our payment is coming from, this has become worrisome to all of us,” he added.

The disgruntled supervisor went ahead to warn unemployed individuals against any attempt of seeking a job opportunity at YEA.

He maintained that persons who settle for any job offer at the Agency do so at their own risk and should be ready to accept responsibility for their actions in the event of any disappointment.

According to the Youth Employment Agency, the claims by Mr. Anin must be treated with all contempt, adding that it is “populist and malicious fabrication intended to cause public disaffection for the Agency and to destroy the impeccable record of massive transformation by the leadership of the Agency since 2017.”

“The Youth Employment Agency has no such module currently running as ‘Tree Planting’ and there is no beneficiary in our current active database known as ‘Bossman Adutwum’.

“…the beneficiary (if he exists) may be an employee of the Forestry Commission,” the press release added.

Bossman Adu-Twum Anin’s appointment

In a letter dated April 5, 2018, and sighted by UniversNews, Mr. Bossman Adu-Twum Anin was appointed to work as a Supervisor under the Youth in Afforestation programme at the Youth Employment Agency (YEA).

His appointment, as contained in the letter signed by the then Chief Executive Officer of the Forestry Commission, the late Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie, took effect from May 2, 2018.

He was to be paid GH¢1,200.00 monthly.

In another separate letter dated September 24, 2018, allowances for beneficiaries under the YEA/YIA programme was revised “in order to align the compensation package with other related government initiatives such as the Nation Builders Corps (NABCO) and also to ensure the sustainability of the programme.”

His salary as a Supervisor was reduced to GH¢700.00 and it took effect from October 1, 2018.