Streamline And Expedite Action On The Payment Of Allowances Of Beneficiaries Of NABCO And YEA

The Coalition of Opposition Party Youth Organizers (COPYO) has been following and monitoring keenly the lethargy of government in paying the salaries and allowances of beneficiaries of the Nation Builders Corp (NABCO) and the Youth In Afforestation Programmes.

We have thus been compelled to speak up on behalf of the vulnerable beneficiaries through this statement to draw the attention of stakeholders to the unfortunate plight of these beneficiaries who have been compelled by the unbearable unemployment situation in the country to enroll into these programmes. The phenomenon of holding their allowance in arrears amounts to an exploitation of the beneficiaries which must not be countenanced anymore.

It is a fact that but for the debilitating high rate of unemployment in Ghana, most of the beneficiaries of these programmes would have sought employment elsewhere instead of joining these programmes under which they are being offered allowances that can barely support the demands of the economic environment within which they find themselves. To add insult to injury, these meager allowance have always been in arrears compounding the miserable situation of the beneficiaries.

We are appalled that government has been complicit in a number of wasteful scandals and needless expenditures and yet funds cannot be made available to support the allowances of these Ghanaian youth who are working to contribute to the socio-economic development of the country. We equally vehemently condemn the intimidating tactics of the police in stopping these beneficiaries from planned public protests intended to put pressure on the Government and Management to pay these allowances.

The Coalition of Opposition Party Youth (COPYO) wishes to state that we would be compelled to engage the leadership of the beneficiaries to work out modalities to ensure that government and the management of NABCO and the YEA treats the concerns of the beneficiaries with the needed seriousness to serve the purpose for which the programmes were instituted. Anything short of this, every available legitimate and legal channel would be adopted and made use of.

…..signed……

Awudu Ishaq

(Convener & Nat Youth Org-PNC)

0244947573