NYEP Coordinator Abandons Post

Abuga Pele, NYEP National Coordinator

I nformation reaching DAILY GUIDE from Kukuom in the Asunafo South District of the Brong Ahafo Region indicates that the District Coordinator for the National Youth Employment Programme (NYEP), Prince Nyarko, has abandoned the office to further his education.

Prince Nyarko was a final year student at the Central University College at the time of his appointment and has since been shuttling between Accra and Kukuom, spending most of the working days in the national capital to the detriment of the work.

As at the time of filing this report, Mr. Nyarko had just returned to Kukuom after writing some papers for his final examination at the said university.

The District Chief Executive of Asunafo South, Fleance Danso, who confirmed the report, told DAILY GUIDE the District NYEP coordinator was a student at the time of his appointment. He however explained that Mr. Nyarko has now completed his academic studies at the university.

The situation, DAILY GUIDE further gathered, has seriously affected the operations of the NYEP in the district as the coordinator has virtually deserted the office.

Concerned residents say the unavailability of the district coordinator at the offices of the NYEP in the district has brought activities of the programme in the area to a standstill.

In a separate interview with a section of the residents at Kukuom, the district capital, the people called for the removal of the coordinator to make way for a permanent officer who will have enough time to help execute the plans of the President for the youth.

Some leading members of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the constituency have also described the situation as “unacceptable” for the President to appoint a student for the said position whilst more qualified party functionaries were dropped for the same position.

The aggrieved party people took a swipe at President Atta Mills for ignoring the petitions brought to his table prior to some appointments made in the district when the NDC assumed power, saying “most of the President's appointees are square pegs in round holes.”

Meanwhile, this paper learnt the embattled NYEP District Coordinator was being sought after by some angry youth in the area for “spitting” on the Omanhene of the Kukuom Traditional Area and President of the Brong Ahafo Regional House of Chiefs, Nana Kwaku Aterkyi II.

NDC officials in the constituency partially attributed the failure of Mr. Nyarko to stay in the district and take full control of his office to the threat issued by the youth in the area for displaying gross disrespect to the prominent chief.

From Fred Tettey Alarti-Amoako, Kukuom