The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Youth Employment Agency (YEA), Kofi Baah Agyepong, is convinced the Akufo-Addo led government is very sensitive to the plight of Ghanaians in the face of global economic crises.
According to him, the government resolved to reduce the pressure and burden on Ghanaians through the further creation of jobs, skills acquisitions and Entrepreneurial development of the Youth.
This Mr Baah said he believes is evident in the creation of over 17,000 jobs over the last four months by YEA through its Community Heath Worker Programme CHWS, Prisons Office Assistants, Community Protection Assistants, the YEA Job centre and partnerships with the private sector.
He added his outfit is poised to create more jobs by the end of 2023.
Mr Agyepong made the revelation when he was addressing a passing-out parade of 1,064 of the second batch of CPAs beneficiaries drawn from the Bono, Ashanti, Bono East, Ahafo and the Western North Regions.
This represented a total of 5,400 who were concurrently passing out at the various Police Training Schools in the country.
In his speech, the CEO averred that Akufo-Addo’s government aligns with Ghanaians and agrees that “we are not in normal times.”
He charged YEA and other agencies to refocus on creating employment and improving conditions of service for employees.
Apart from rolling out the traditional modules, allowances of beneficiaries have now been increased to GHS500.
There is also a deepened partnership with the diplomatic community and private sector to create more private sector-led jobs.
Mr Agyepong also told the gathering that YEA’s new agenda also creates a platform for people in the technical and artisan sector with an oncoming partnership with NEIP, NVTI, GEA etc.
To the Beneficiaries under the Community Protection Assistants CPAs module, the CEO advised them not to compromise on their professional integrity in the course of discharging their duties in the communities.
He added that the Agency would not hesitate to endorse sanctions to weed out any CPA personnel by the GPS for infractions in the rules of their engagement.
Mr Kofi Agyepong explained that such caution was against the background of assurance by the GPS to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (M.O.U) with the Agency to give consideration and priority to CPA personnel in future recruitment into the mainstream service.
He explained that the Agency had taken the necessary steps to clear all outstanding arrears owed to beneficiaries to disburse their minds of engaging in malfeasance.
He assured that the NPP government under the leadership of Akufo-Addo had made strenuous efforts in spite of the economic turbulence to release funds timeously to meet the monthly stipends of the beneficiaries.
The Passing-out ceremony was concurrently held in Pwalugu Police Training School led by the Deputy CEO in charge of Operations, Alhaji Ibrahim Bashiru, in Accra by Director Technical Service Chris Arthur, Eastern Region by the Regional Director Jerry Adu Poku.