The Member of Parliament for Obuasi West, Hon. Kweku Kwarteng, has added his voice to calls on Ghana Youth Employment and Entrepreneurial Development Agency (GYEEDA) authorities to stop running adverts, requesting for bids to run the agency\u2019s ICT module.<\/p>\n
The MP\u2019s comments came less than 24 hours after pressure group, Mass Action Committee (MAC), gave government a week\u2019s ultimatum to withdraw the said advert.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen the mismanagement and the irregularities in the GYEEDA programme came up, one of the reasons government gave for the irregularities happening was that GYEEDA was not operated on the bases of any law and therefore it lacked the legal and institutional arrangements that could check some of these irregularities,\u201d the NPP MP said in a CitiNews<\/strong> interview.<\/p>\n While calling on government not to roll out any new module of GYEEDA until ongoing reforms are concluded, Mr. Kwarteng reminded President John Dramani Mahama of his earlier pledge to take the necessary steps to ensure that the youth employment agency operates within an identifiable legal framework.<\/p>\n Government, he said, must not rush in its attempt to restructure GYEEDA.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Executive Director of Ghana Integrity Initiative, Vitus Azeem, has called for accountability and transparency in managing all programs under GYEEDA.<\/p>\n He said, \u201cThey said they were going to review the modules and that was why they suspended or cancelled them at that time; we are not aware that they have reviewed these modules. They have not made consultations; we have not heard of people giving views as to how to review the modules and yet they have advertized and they are going to award the contract again?\u201d<\/p>\n Mr. Azeem also challenged government to retrieve monies reportedly paid under previous GYEEDA modules to some organizations and individuals even though they did not do any work for the agency.<\/p>\n \u201cThe committee recommended and I think the government agreed that some people should refund monies they have taken without the necessary works [done]; these people were given one full year to refund those monies and yet we are advertizing to start the module again,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n He asked, \u201cWhere are we going to find that money when we have allowed these monies to stay in somebody\u2019s hands without any interest or any sanctions.\u201d<\/p>\n Last year, a string of financial scandals forced a government investigation into the activities of GYEEDA. The investigations documented evidence of corruption and massive misuse of public funds under the programme, compelling President Mahama to order complete overhaul of GYEEDA\u2019s operations.<\/p>\n Two former senior officials of the agency, Abuga Pele and Philip Akpeena Assibit are presently facing criminal charges for their alleged roles in some of the GYEEDA-related scandals.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n By: Abdul Karim Naatogmah\/Citifmonline.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Member of Parliament for Obuasi West, Hon. Kweku Kwarteng, has added his voice to calls on Ghana Youth Employment and Entrepreneurial Development Agency (GYEEDA) authorities to stop running adverts, requesting for bids to run the agency\u2019s ICT module. The MP\u2019s comments came less than 24 hours after pressure group, Mass Action Committee (MAC), gave […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":15062,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2,5],"tags":[38],"yoast_head":"\n