Opinions of Thursday, 4 December 2014

Columnist: Bress-Biney, Desmond

RE: Yes fund to fail - UGAG boss

I want to bring to the attention of the general public the many factual inaccuracies in the story captioned: "YES FUND TO FAIL – UGAG BOSS" written by Simon Davis of inewsghana.com and published on October 29, 2014 on his platform and other media platforms.

Although I am on record to have criticized the YES FUND before, the whole story by Simon Davies lacks accuracy.

My conversation with Simon Davies lasted for almost 30-minutes and was not recorded. He introduced himself as Director of KingzGold Technologies and someone passionate about the plight of the unemployed and not a journalist. After the story was published, I called him to pull the story down because it lacked factual accuracy.

I never in our conversation made any statement linked to Hon. Kojo Adu Asare and poultry farming like I am quoted to have said that; "How can you appoint someone who has never been an entrepreneur to handle funds aimed at promoting entrepreneurship? Kojo has not even reared Poultry before, so how do you expect him to motivate the youth to move into such sector when he has no experience in the field at all?" It is good he got fired, but who even replaced him anyway, he quizzed."

Again, I am quoted to have said that "...As I speak with you now, the YES office is not operating; people are in the office, being paid monthly, but sadly, there are no jobs for them to do. I have sent guys there with their proposals, but asked to go away because they have not commenced work, he said. He also expressed concern about the number of adverts been run by the fund. Why spend so much mounting billboards, paying for adverts on radio and television, as well as online; facebook, among others, he asked." I never in our conversation used the words am quoted to have used. I am on record to have criticized the administration of YES FUND but not to the extent that I am quoted by the writer. Although I raised concerns about our members inability to submit their proposals, my meeting at the YES Secretariat proved otherwise.

I therefore wish to use this opportunity to clarify the perception out there that the Unemployed Graduates Association of Ghana (UGAG) is a wing of a political party. We have never been a wing of any political party and have never received or taken money from any political party to push its agenda before and we don't intend to. It is our hope that we would find a lasting solution to graduate and youth unemployment in Ghana.

The general public should treat the story by Simon Davies as lies aimed at tarnishing the good cause I have fought for in the past. Steps are therefore being taken by our Association to work with the YES Secretariat to find a lasting solution to graduate unemployment.

Desmond Bress-Biney

Director of Operations

Unemployed Graduates Association of Ghana (UGAG)

0243-765958