The Youth Employment Agency (YEA) has dismissed a longstanding public view that the recruitments of its labour force have always favoured only job applicants for whom the district directors of the agency have personal preference.
Job discrimination at the YEA is a strong claim the public has maintained, with informed critics warning that a biased selection of prospective employees, especially into the sensitive modules of the agency, would undermine efficiency and pose needless threats to a general public at the receiving end of compromised quality.
But briefing journalists in the Upper East Region Tuesday about the recruitments made so far this year, the authorities of the agency said recruitments were done only by experts hired from the sectors of the modules run by the job-producing bureau.
“This time round, when we are conducting our interviews, hardly would you see the district directors being part of the process. This time, we involve the mother departments. For instance, if we are doing it for the nurses, Ghana Health Service comes to conduct the interview. So, you don’t see our influence; you don’t see the influence of the so-called big men who will not show their faces. No. They choose people that they feel are qualified.
“That is what they do. Postings, they do it. Recommendations for employment, they do it. When they are done, they give us the lists; we have them; people check their names; we give them introductory letters to the banks; they go get their E-Zwich numbers and bank accounts; they bring it back; we print the appointment letters for them and then we validate them and they are paid. This time round, we are trying hard to make sure that we allow the system to work as it is supposed to be,” YEA’s Deputy Upper East Regional Director in charge of Operations, Abdallah Salifu, said.
4,818 youths recruited in 2016 in UE/R
The Upper East Regional Director of the agency, Roger Abolimbisa Akantagriwen, announced that 4,818 youths had been handed employments this year under 9 modules in the region.
The total figure is comprised of 2,650 males, 2,168 females and 31 persons with disabilities (PWDs) distributed across the region’s 13 municipalities and districts. The Bawku Municipality has 219 males, 168 females, no PWD. There are 221 males, 102 females, 1 PWD in the Bawku West District; 341 males, 378 females, 7 PWDs in the Bolgatanga Municipality; 358 males, 263 females, 7 PWDs in the Bongo District; 172 males, 85 females and 1 PWD in the Binduri District.
The Builsa North District has 128 males, 193 females, 3 PWDs; 90 males, 146 females, 2 PWDs in the Builsa South District; 237 males, 116 females, no PWD in the Garu-Tempane District; 286 males, 198 females, 2 PWDs in the Kassena-Nankana Municipality; 218 males, 205, 5 PWDs in the Kassena-Nankana West District; 127 males, 107 females, 2 PWDs in the Nabdam District; 137 males, 95 females, 1 PWD in the Pusiga District and 116, 112 and no PWD in the Talensi District.
“Looking at our recruitment drive, you would realise that we are not sleeping in this region. We want to make sure that the youth of this nation are productively engaged. And these are the concerns of government. The target for the year nationwide was 100,000. But we have been able to attain over 62% because we have engaged a total number of 62,000 plus.
“Meanwhile, the year is not yet ended. Very soon, we are going to roll out a lot of modules. We have that of the vocational module which has a lot of sub-modules, and in this region we are supposed to engage about 500 people. And we have also thought of engaging not less 2,000 graduates from tertiary institutions very soon in the region. We are going to engage the graduates under the Paid Internship Module,” the Regional Director disclosed.
More logistics for employees
Inadequate logistics has remained a major challenge particularly for the youths engaged under the security modules of the agency.
Media reports, in the middle of 2016, exposed some Community Police Assistants (CPAs) who, for the lack of extra uniforms, were condemned to tattered outfit with some borrowing trousers from mainstream police officers for operations. CPAs also lodged open complaints about the lack of extra boots as well as the difficulty experienced daily in moving between their homes and duty posts.
Subsequently, the agency provided CPAs nationwide with brand-new bicycles to facilitate their movement. But the intervention excluded those engaged in the other security-related modules- like the prisons service and the fire service. Tuesday’s briefing saw authorities of the agency issue an assurance that employees attached to the other security units would receive their means of transport in 2017.
“For the uniforms, they have all been sown. It’s only left with embossment. The embossment is of best quality and it takes time to do that. I don’t know if you have seen the ones they have done already. It’s of best quality. They are working on it. That is the level at which they are now,” Mr. Salifu stated.
Some of the employees, including PWDs, sat through the session in what the authorities said was consciously arranged as an evidence-based briefing.
“I know the government is trying to ensure that the youth in this country should get employed. They have done well by making us happy. Previously, it wasn’t like this. The way the coordinators are going about things is good. With the E-Zwich, nobody can cheat us again. But government should try to employ [more] disabled people. We have got experience,” George Ayuuma, a Community Health Worker with physical disability, told newsmen at the close of the news conference.
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(Via: NewsGhana)
