The amount is slightly above the allowances of National Service Personnel who earn GH¢559 monthly.

[contextly_sidebar id=”oiLxD7hyBYXq6FkdbsNGbqEHrjg7sXnF”]The Nations Builders Corps was announced as a government initiative in the 2018 budget to provide 100,000 jobs to graduates at a cost of GHc 600 million.

The focus of the initiative is to improve public service delivery in health, education, agriculture, sanitation and also drive revenue mobilization and collection.

The programme has come under criticism from the Minority in Parliament and  Policy think tank, Imani Africa.

They have cited a duplication of roles with the already existing Youth Employment Programme.

But responding to a question from MP for Ashaiman, Ernest Norgbey on what government was doing to create jobs for Ghanaians, Baffour Awuah says the corps was still being fashioned out properly by the government.

“My office, together with the office of the president, is working together to come out with the modules that will be under this particular project,” the Minister stated to Parliament.

On questions relating to corp’s remuneration, Mr. Baffour Awuah said the gross salary is expected to be around GHc 600.

“… all things being equal, the 100,000 will work for 10 months [in 2018] so if you divide this [the GHc 600 million budget allocation] by the 10 months for 100,000 people, it suggests that on a monthly basis, each person will get GHc 600,” he explained.

462 jobs per district

The NBC is expected to provide every one of Ghana’s 216 districts with jobs for 462 graduates, the Minister said.

The programme, which will be managed by the office of the President, will focus on alleviating shortfalls in public service delivery.

NBC has a number of subsets which are connected to other major government targets and initiatives.

It will have a “Clean Ghana” Programme for sanitation, a “Heal Ghana” module for health, “Revenue Ghana” programme for tax collection, a “Teach Ghana” module for education and a “Feed Ghana” module for agriculture.

The NBC is also envisioned to alleviate the Ghana’s graduate unemployment problems

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By: Duke Mensah Opoku/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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Mr Ignatius Baffour Awuah, the Minister of Employment and Labour Relations, made this known when a 12-Member Inter-Agency Committee on the Management of Foreign Labour Migration presented a 24-page Report to him, in Accra, on Friday.

He said the meeting had become necessary because those embassies were involved in the issuance of visas to Ghanaians going to those countries.

He said the Government was not against foreign migration but was strongly opposed to excessive exploitation of Ghanaian migrants, adding that, Ghanaian migrants deserved to be treated with dignity, while their labour rights were respected in any country they find themselves.

In recent times, the Ghanaian media has been inundated with reports of harsh treatment meted out to Ghanaian in the Gulf States such as Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.

They are often subjected to sexual exploitation, physical and emotional torture.

Mr Baffour Awuah said the Government’s delegation will be led by representatives from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration (MFARI) and Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations (MELR).

He expressed appreciation to the members of the Committee for their hard work and assured that the Ministry would study the Report and submit the recommendations to the Cabinet for consideration.

The Minister noted that most countries in the world were signatories to the International Labour Organisation’s conventions on labour, therefore, wherever any citizen of any country found himself or herself they ought to be treated with dignity.

He said the Ministry would issue a White Paper on the Committee’s recommendations after Cabinet had considered it, in order to guide foreign labour migration management.

Mr Baffour Awuah, therefore, urged the media to intensify public education and sensitisation on illegal foreign migration.

Some recommendations in the Committee’s Report include ensuring well-coordinated and regulated migration procedures since it could reduce unemployment in Ghana; there should be effective inter-agency collaboration to ensure effective migration governance; licensing of all migration recruitment agencies or agents and bilateral agreement between Ghana and destination countries contributing to the infractions.

Others are that; Ghana should improve bilateral co-operation with destination countries to enhance migration governance; Government should engage Gulf States embassies on non-issuance of visas directly to migrant workers, but rather issue them to only licensed labour recruitment agencies, among others.

Mr Sammy-Longman Attakumah, the Chairperson of the Committee and Chief Director of MELR, the Committee was established by the Sector Minister on July 18 this year, with a two-month mandate, to review existing international labour laws and regulations and make recommendations towards resolving harsh treatment of Ghanaian migrants.

It comprised representatives from the Labour Department, the Ghana Immigration Service, the Ghana Police Service, the Ministry of Justice and Attorney-General’s Department and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration.

The rest are; the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection and the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations.

He said the Committee engaged key stakeholders and received input and recommendations in relation to foreign migration.

Currently, there is a temporary ban on the exportation of labour from Ghana to some Gulf States.

Meanwhile, the nation has licensed 58 recruitment migration agencies by the Registrar General’s Department with Board of Directors certified by the Ghana Police Service.

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Source: GNA

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According to him, he will collaborate with the relevant agencies such as the National Pensions Regulatory Authority (NPRA) to conduct the investigations.

[contextly_sidebar id=”NQhQoyMSWVmRh8i0e1mDadQU3FWnyWHT”]Public sector workers have embarked on strikes over the non-payment of tier two pension contributions to their respective fund managers.

After the last protest, the Chairman of the Forum of Public Sector Labour Unions and Executive Secretary of CLOGSAG, Dr Isaac Bampoe told Citi News, that workers want their second tier pension contributions to be transferred to our custodian banks.

According to the nominee, there is the need for accurate data on all public sector workers to get government to pay back all monies owed the workers.

“What I seek to do is to conduct and independent investigation into the issues of second tier pension. I will have to work it out through the respective agencies through the NPRA because we have to get the right figures and also get government to pay back that which it is owing. I don’t see why government should be keeping workers’ money for all that while.”

Mr Barfuor-Awuah said although he had been assured that government was keeping the money at the Bank of Ghana and attracting interest at a treasury bill rate, he will verify the claim to ascertain its veracity.

 ‘Addressing unemployment’

The nominee said in addressing unemployment in the country, he will first ensure that a national data was gathered on unemployment to get the actual number of unemployed people in the country and map out the geographical location as well as the demographics of the unemployed people.

According to him, this will help his ministry identify the appropriate interventions to help address the unemployment situation in the country.

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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @jnyabor

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