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13.08.2014 Press Statement

Youth Enterprise Support Is A Laudable Initiative

By Foundation For Youth, Peace & Development (FYPD)
Youth Enterprise Support Is A Laudable Initiative
13.08.2014 LISTEN

The Foundation for Youth, Peace and Development (FYPD), wish to commend Government for the profound interest it is showing in the affairs of the youth of Ghana presently. We believe that many Ghanaians are touched by the profound words of the President of the Republic,His Excellency John Dramani Mahama at this year's celebration of International Youth Day and subsequently,at the launch of the Youth Enterprise Support Initiative.

The FYPD wish to say that the words of the President ought to bring some sense of hope to the youth and urge them on to work harder toward building strong and prosperous Ghana.

It is also important to mention, that considering the criteria for accessing the Youth Enterprise Fund,it promises to help in reducing the problem of youth unemployment by providing job for the young entrepreneur and the additional young people he or she is required to employ under the initiative.

We however wish to appeal to Government to entrust the management of the Ten Million Ghana Cedis(GHC10,000 000) seed fund into the hands of institutions which already have well developed structures and experienced personnel for youth work .Mention in this respect can be made of the National Youth Authority which is known to be the forerunner of youth work in the country.

Ample evidence exist on the grounds to prove that duplication of youth work creates more problems as far as effective implementation and co-ordination of youth policies and programmes are concerned. Further evidence indicate that the creation of new offices for youth work as in the case of NYEP/GYEEDA, is largely informed by political imperatives, especially the need to provide jobs for party faithfuls.

Most of the people who are recruited into this offices are therefore not only people without managerial competence and experience but also people with the wrong orientation who see themselves as politicians rather than managers of youth programmes.

NYEP/GYEEDA offices for example are nothing more than extension of party offices and it is therefore not surprising that the initiative did not succeed in reducing the problem of youth unemployment in the country.

In order to prevent recurrence of the problem therefore, Government should allow the National Youth Authority to manage the initiative.It is also our hope that implementation of the initiative will be free from partisan politics and more will be done to increase the fund as promised by the President in order to make it sustainable.

Joseph M. Tetteh.
Peace and Youth Right Advocate & Founder, FYPD

0244571090

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