The Executive Director of IMANI Ghana, has emphasized the need for the Youth Employment Agency (YEA) programme to be entirely scrapped or privatized to get the needed results.
His suggestion comes days after a massive payroll fraud believed to have cost the nation 50 millions of cedis was uncovered at the Agency.
Speaking on Citi FM’s News Analysis Programme, ‘The Big Issue‘ Mr. Cudjoe called for the “disbandment” of YEA and other employment agencies to serve the interest of the citizenry.
He believes these agencies would perform better if they are handed over to private entities.
Mr. Cudjoe further explained that government has no businesses, managing these agencies, saying they only set up these agencies to create an avenue for “siphoning of funds and recruiting party supporters”
“If this administration leaves office and another comes, we will still hear these things. Government has no business in setting up employment agencies. Let us give this off to some well-established private sector, but as long as government agencies still do the recruitment, this endless cycle of money going into all kinds of pockets will not cease. Once this administration leaves and another comes, you are likely to hear that the old ways are not good and should therefore be changed. Disband all these groups and move on,” Franklin Cudjoe argued.
Apart from YEA, other agencies have also been hit with similar corruption scandals, prompting government to in some cases restructure some of these programmes to deal with the canker.
One of such programmes was the Ghana Youth Employment and Entrepreneurial Development Agency (GYEEDA) which was later restructured to become YEA.
GYEEDA, which was a public initiative targeted at youth development failed to achieve its purpose as it was characterized by shady deals and corrupt activities.
Following reports of mismanagement of state funds, government in 2012 ordered for an investigation into activities of GYEEDA, and subsequently terminated the contracts with some of the various companies.
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