Pressure Group, Occupy Ghana, says it is not enough for government to blacklist the companies indicted in the Ghana Youth Employment and Entrepreneurial Development Agency (GYEEDA) scandal, without prosecuting the officials involved.
The group’s demand follows government’s announcement that it has blacklisted the companies for the next phase of the implementation of GYEEDA which has now been christened YEA.
[contextly_sidebar id=”Qsw02GplsFTm6Ogy7cRI3SJdYgnJuFL0″]Government says the decision to blacklist the local companies including RLG and Zoomlion, is part of its fight against corruption which seeks to deter others from such habits in future engagements.
Although Occupy Ghana, which was vociferous when the GYEEDA scandal broke out has lauded government’s latest action, it believes that merely blacklisting them is not enough.
It has therefore thrown a new challenge for government to charge officials of the companies for the huge financial loses they caused the state.
The Convener of the Group, Sydney Casley Hayford on Eyewitness News explained that prosecuting these companies will settle the issue.
“Yes, let me say that we we support the fact that these companies have been blacklisted. We don’t want it to stop there; we would like to see some charges, and some of these people should be indicted. We would like to see some of these monies recovered and put into state coffers.”
Casley Hayford also emphasized the need for government to recover monies unlawfully spent under the programme, saying, “we want to see the bulk of money recovered for all the fraudulent activities that were perpetrated under GYEEDA. We cannot afford to wait any longer, it is dragging and the more time it takes, the less enthusiasm to prosecute these companies.”
The blacklisted companies per the directive will not get new contracts under the Youth Employment Agency (YEA) Programme.
GYEEDA, a social intervention programme aimed at providing employable skills to the youth in the country recorded some shady deals in its hay days. Government later ordered an investigation into the matter and changed the name into the Youth Employment Agency (YEA).
Currently, the former GYEEDA boss, Abuga Pele and Philip Assibit, Chief Executive Officer of Goodwill International Group, one of the companies contracted to provide services for the programme is facing the full rigorous of the law for their roles in the corruption scandal.
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By: Marian Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @EfeAnsah