... for non-payment of salaries

The National Youth Employment Programme (NYEP) risks being abandoned by some youth in the Akatsi district for non-payment of salaries. The over one hundred and twenty (120) young persons employed as Pupil Teachers in various basic schools since September last year say they worked for three-months before the Christmas break without receiving a dime.

Burning with anger and frustration, some of the NYEP beneficiaries in the district told the dailyEXPRESS they are likely to quit the programme as a result of what they call the inhuman treatment by local officials of the programme.

The otherwise unemployed young people mostly from very poor homes had hopes of making a living and at least support their immediate families when they were offered the jobs, but their hopes are almost dashed.

Wisdom Agbovi, a senior secondary school graduate teaches in the lower primary department of one of the basic schools in the Akatsi district of the Volta Region. Speaking on behalf of his colleagues, Mr. Agbovi said the district coordinator of the programme Pastor Joseph Wilberforce has failed to offer any explanations for the non-payment of their salaries.

The pupil teachers are more concerned and frustrated because their counterparts working in the Zoom Lion waste collection and sanitation department of the NYEP are constantly paid their monthly stipends.

“We don’t understand this. The guys who are collecting waste said they have been taking their money every month. We even started work before them. We have worked for about four months but we received nothing. We went to his office several times but he keeps saying the money has not come; or the money will come next week. Every time he says the money will come next week,” says Mr. Agbovi.

Pastor Joseph Wilberforce on his part admits that there has been a long delay in paying the pupil teachers their arrears and ensuring a monthly payment.

“It is true that we have not paid them for some time now…for some three months.”

He told the dailyEXRESS from Akatsi that the undue delay is because of an initial inconsistency in the number of available vacancies within the district. According to him, sixty-nine (69) vacancies were initially filled after which twenty-eight more placements were made. A further nineteen vacancies were announced and filled.

“But the fault is not coming from Accra per se. Initially, when the Ghana Education Service was asked to declare existing vacancies in the various districts only a few were declared. But some additional vacancies came later on to be filled. So this resulted in the unnecessary delay in monitoring, reporting and processing the data to pay the young men and women employed under the programme,” he explained.

Mr. Wilberforce further explained that Zoom Lion is employed under a special contract with the National Youth Employment Programme to manage the sanitation problem across the country. Unlike the Pupil Teachers, the NYEP does not pay the employees of the Zoom Lion.

“Zoom Lion is our employee under a special contract. We don’t pay the employees of Zoom Lion. The company pays its own workers.”

Pastor Wilberforce declared that all employees under the programme in the Akatsi District will be paid their entitlements by the end of this month.

“The issue now is that I have received information from the national office that we should submit the data for the salaries to be processed. But I can assure you that by the end of this month January, all of them will be paid,”

The National Youth Employment Programme was launched last August in Accra by President Kufuor as a panacea to youth unemployment in Ghana. The programme aims at creating over 175,000 jobs in the first year with subsequent yearly increases.