Winneba (C/R), March 4, GNA - The government has lined up training programmes for the youth in fulfillment of President Evans Atta Mills' pledge to invest in the people.

Mr Isaac Kingsley Ahunu-Armah, District Chief Executive (DCE) for Go= moa East, who made the statement urged the youth to avail themselves for training to enable those of them who had no skills in any business to bui= ld their capacity to improve their chances in the job market. The DCE gave the advice at a three-day Technical and Management Workshop for growth-oriented small business enterprises selected from the=

District at Winneba.

The International Labour Organization (ILO) sponsored the workshop under its Decent Work Programme, with the support of the Gomoa East Distr= ict Assembly. The workshop was attended by 35 salt winners, pineapple, rice and vegetable farmers. Mr Ahunu-Armah said the workshop would be meaningless if the participants did not put the skills and knowledge acquired into practice. He urged them to impart the knowledge they had acquired to their fel= low farmers and salt winners so that together they could improve small scale businesses in the District. Mr Fred O. Addae, District Coordinating Director, advised Ghanaian businessmen and women to invest loans acquired on their businesses instea= d of diverting them into other uses, so that the business could help them t= o repay the loans. He urged them to keep proper records on daily transactions to enable=

them to know whether they were progressing or retrogressing.

Mr Peter Essel, Gomoa East Constituency Chairman of the National Democratic Congress, cautioned businessmen and women against doing politi= cs with their businesses since that could collapse their ventures. The participants appealed to the Ministry of Food and Agriculture to=

construct small scale irrigation systems in the District to enhance farmi= ng due to the erratic rainfall pattern in the area. Mr Robert Nsiah and Mr Anthony N. Bentum, both from FIT Ghana Consul= t, a consultancy firm for ILO, facilitated the workshop.