In a statement issued on Wednesday to react to the NYA’s disclaimer, YES-Ghana explained that, the Ghana Youth Directory is an open source, youth-led civil society effort that seeks to create an information hub for youth groups, associations, and organisations towards effective collaboration and exchange of information among actors in the same field, and was in no way in violation of any of the country’s laws.

The National Youth Authority (NYA), in reaction to an advertisement in the Daily Graphic by YES Ghana calling on Youth Groups to register online to join ongoing advocacy and youth-inclusive policy in the country, said that YES had no authorization to collect data of youth groups on behalf of the Republic of Ghana.

But the organization believes the NYA’s statement is misleading and has the potential of hurting their otherwise objective project.

“For the records, the Ghana Youth Directory was originally launched back in 2013 as part of the Voices of Youth project implemented by YES-Ghana. The NYA was an active member of the Advisory Committee that guided the development and successful launch of the Ghana Youth Directory. Over the last few months, the Directory received a complete makeover, thanks to the financial support of the Commonwealth Foundation. The advertisements that have appeared in the Daily Graphic constitute a renewed effort to get more youth groups to enlist and showcase their work on the Directory.”

Read YES-Ghana’s full reaction below:

1. The Youth Empowerment Synergy (YES-Ghana) notes with discontent a press statement attributed to the National Youth Authority (NYA) on the above subject, which was reported by the news media over the last two days. YES-Ghana finds the contents of that press statement, as reported by the media, to be misleading, damaging, and completely unwarranted.

2. For the avoidance of any doubts, neither the Ghana Youth Directory nor other wide-ranging youth development programmes of YES-Ghana amount to a violation of any laws of Ghana as claimed by the NYA.

3. The Ghana Youth Directory, available at www.ghanayouthdirectory.org, is an open source, youth-led, civil society effort that seeks to create an information hub for youth groups, associations and organisations towards effective collaboration and exchange of information among actors in the same field. This is in response to the knowledge gap that existed for many years about youth-led actors, which undermined the importance of networking and collaboration within the youth development space.

4. For the records, the Ghana Youth Directory was originally launched back in 2013 as part of the Voices of Youth project implemented by YES-Ghana. The NYA was an active member of the Advisory Committee that guided the development and successful launch of the Ghana Youth Directory. Over the last few months, the Directory received a complete makeover, thanks to the financial support of the Commonwealth Foundation. The advertisements that have appeared in the Daily Graphic constitute a renewed effort to get more youth groups to enlist and showcase their work on the Directory.

5. Considering the open and fruitful relationship that has existed between YES-Ghana and the NYA, it is difficult to ascertain exactly what motivated the NYA to issue such a disparaging public statement without first contacting YES-Ghana to seek clarifications. For more than fifteen years, YES-Ghana has collaborated with the NYA to successfully implement many projects. The NYA is usually represented at major events organised by YES-Ghana. In fact, the most recent NYA representation at a YES-Ghana event was just two weeks ago, on 26 October 2017, when CEO Emmanuel Asigri delegated one of his deputies to deliver a statement during the Awards Ceremony of YES-Ghana’s SDG Youth Essay Competition, held at the Coconut Grove Regency Hotel in Accra.

6. YES-Ghana has requested a meeting with the CEO of the NYA to try to understand what went wrong and to clarify any issues and/or concerns that the NYA may have about the Ghana Youth Directory in particular, and the work of YES-Ghana in general. From what we are hearing from people within the NYA, it seems that there was a mix-up. Considering the rush to release the press statement just hours after YES-Ghana’s advertisement appeared in the newspaper, it is obvious that the NYA was unable to undertake the required verifications, which would have most likely led it to a different outcome. YES-Ghana is postured to settle this matter quickly in order not to impede the shared effort of empowering the Ghanaian youth for contributing to and benefitting from the nation’s development.

7. YES-Ghana remains grateful to the many young people whose participation and active citizenship has consolidated the organisation’s position at the forefront of youth development policy, practice and research in Ghana. Accredited by the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and recognised widely for its consistency in creating opportunities for youth across various programme areas, the organisation remains committed to working with all stakeholders in the youth development space towards a more youth-inclusive Ghanaian society.

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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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The Authority in a statement said that YES has no authorization to collect data of youth groups on behalf of the Republic of Ghana.

A Daily Graphic publication on Monday November 6, 2017, asked all student and youth groups and associations to register online with YES to join ongoing advocacy for youth-inclusive policy for Ghana.

But the NYA has warned that dealing with YES comes with its own risk as it is in no way placed to compile a so-called Ghana Youth Directory.

“To do so could invite the repercussions stated in National Youth Authority Act 2016 Section 25, which deals with Registration of Youth Organizations and Section 26 which enumerates offences and penalties,” the Authority said.

“…the NYA is mandated under Act 939 to take steps to rally youth groups for the purpose of creating an active community of youth workers. To this end, the NYA has data on recognized youth groups and urges others to feel no inhibition in contacting the NYA to register to enjoy the benefits of cooperation.”

“Youth groups should beware of mushrooming organisations purportedly acting on behalf of the state and in cooperation with statutory bodies like the NYA,” it added.

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By: citifmonline.com/Ghana

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At a two-day Orientation and Training Workshop held in Koforidua, the Chief Executive Officer of the Authority, Emmanuel Asigri, tasked the Regional and District Directors of the Authority to discharge their duties professionally.

“Our mandate as an authority for grassroots youth development of our country is not an easy task, and we need to position ourselves well to be able to deliver and be aligned with the gradual changes taking place at the National Youth Authority.”

He added that, “no period of the global space provides the opportunity for intense youth development work and service delivery than the present fourth industrial revolution, which is contemporary and referred to as the Age of Digitization. By this era, value systems that characterized our developmental modes as a people have been subsumed in a global mass culture of technology usage, yet there continue to be challenges in the youth’s developmental stages.”

“These include informational, that is the level of access to good and timely information, dispositional, the youth’s attitude towards life opportunities due to issues of self-esteem and confidence because of previous experiences, more worrisome are the participatory-related barriers, and in view of all this, we as Regional and District Directors must work very hard to handle all these issues by changing our old ways of doing things at the National Youth Authority to give way to attitudes of diligence, responsibility, prudence and proactive initiative”

Also speaking at the workshop, the Minister of Youth and Sports, Isaac Asiamah, commended the work done so far by the leaders of the National Youth Authority, and challenged them to do more.

Mr. Asiamah assured the Directors of Government’s readiness to resource them to function properly.

He also advised the country’s youth  to inculcate the spirit of volunteerism to faster the rate of development in the country.

“As the Minister of Youth and Sports, I have a special bias towards youth volunteerism and patriotism which are essential values for national development. In calling upon the youth to engage in volunteerism and community service, we develop in them leadership skills , entrepreneurship qualities, team- building, respect for diversity and ultimately, a culture of belonging and acceptance which are necessary for national development and stability, so everybody should get on board and contribute their quota in building our nation.”

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By: Neil Nii Amatey Kanarku/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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They would continue to remain at the heart of its economic policies as government empowers them economically, to enable them to make useful contribution to nation building.

She was addressing a youth rally organized to commemorate the Africa Union (AU) Day in Kumasi.

The event, organized by the National Youth Authority (NYA), was under the theme “Investing in the youth to help themselves; tasks and responsibilities of stakeholders”.

It brought together various youth groups and students from across the metropolis.

Mrs. Bawumia encouraged the youth to take advantage of programmes rolled out through the NYA to better their lives.

She also advised them to be patriotic and to accept to uphold the values of patriotism, hard work, integrity, decency and self-discipline.

She applauded the NYA for the strong and determined effort it was making to give young people employable skills for sustainable livelihood.

Ms. Erica Goldson, acting Representative of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), said it was important for all stakeholders “to see investment in young people as critical to development”.

She hailed the government for placing a premium on youth development and said that was a right step.

Mrs. Elizabeth Agyemang, Deputy Ashanti Regional Minister, urged the youth to be innovative and to have the courage to venture into their own businesses.

That, she indicated, was vital to the fight to bring down the high unemployment figures in the country.

Mr. Emmanuel Asigri, the Chief Executive Officer of the NYA, said they would go the extra mile to ensure that government’s investment in the youth achieved the intended goals.

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Source: GNA

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Mr. Asigri could not fathom why the previous Mahama government failed to settle these arrears before exiting power, knowing that such schools do not generate internal funds to run the schools.

He disclosed this during a familiarization tour to the Sandema Youth leadership training school in the Upper East Region on Wednesday 12th April, 2017.

“When we took over at the National Youth Authority, we were quite shocked that in all the Youth leadership training schools, the system had been running for two years without feeding grants to these schools,” he said.

“…So plans are far advanced to quickly effect transfers to the schools to take care of the arrears, and meet their current challenges. The money will hit their accounts before they reopen the schools” Mr. Asigri assured.

Mr. Asigri said government has fashioned employable programmes targeted at the informal sector, to drastically reduce youth employment in the country.

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By: Frederick Awuni/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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Posting on his Facebook wall Monday, Mr Cudjoe, described Shatta Wale as a “great music strategist” who had “been sidelined by the Ghanaian media for 11 years.”

The policy analyst and public commentator described claims that Shatta Wale did not deserve to win the award as “unsophisticated” and without merit.

According to him, Shatta Wale had worked hard in Jamaica for five years, “learning the ways of great dance hall musicians”.

Mr Cudjoe said the self-acclaimed “Dancehall King” had not only rebranded himself, but had also started a movement – Shatta Movement – which had attracted many converts in Ghana .

“Pompous Marketing executives and religious hypocrites should take time to study how Shatta Wale made it,” the Imani boss said, noting: “The UK Guardian newspaper has marked Shatta Wale for global impact soon and in his own land hypocrites are bringing him down as usual.

“Let’s promote this guy,” he added.

Though there have been some sentiments on social media to the effect that Shatta Wale’s ‘Artiste of the Year’ feat was undeserved, there is general consensus among music lovers that the dancehall star deserved the award for a successful 2013 in which he released hit songs such as ‘Enter the net’, ‘Dancehall King’ and ‘Like My Thing’.

It didn’t come as a surprise to many, therefore, when ‘Dancehall King’ won ‘Song of the Year’ at the awards. He also picked the ‘Dancehall/Reggae Song of the Year’ award, taking his total haul on the night to three.

Controversy was, however, generated when Shatta Wale did not show up to pick up the awards.

Enthusiastic fans, who had attended the event to celebrate with the talented artiste, were upset that he did not attend.

But he Monday explained that he stayed away from the show in protest at the unfair treatment of Ghanaian artistes by the organisers, Charter House.

He said Ghanaian artistes had not been given the respect and recognition that they deserved.

According to him, Charter House refused to pay the Gh₵70,000 he demanded as fee for performing at the show, but would have been willing to spend thousands of dollars on artistes from other countries.

Source: Graphic Online

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