Minister for Youth and Sports, Elvis Afriyie Ankrah is entreating Ghanaians to give President Mahama the benefit of the doubt in his (President Mahama) promise to implement recommendations in the Ghana Youth Employment and Entrepreneurial Development Agency (GYEEDA) report.
Speaking on Accra-based Joy FM, the Youth and Sports Minister said the president cannot be “stampeded” with calls for him to implement the recommendations in the GYEEDA report.
“He needs time, you can’t stampede the president, and he needs time to study it. He has given assurance…Let’s give our president the benefit of the doubt. Let him come out with the recommendations and actions then we can judge him based on that,” he said.
According to him, President Mahama’s call for an investigation following initial media reports on the corruption at GYEEDA and his initiation of a committee was enough assurance that he would not fail to implement the recommendations contained in the final report.
Mr Afriyie Ankrah also established that the report being circulated in the media was not the original report but a draft.
He noted that the final report was in the possession of the president and it was that report that the P.V. Obeng committee was studying to make final recommendations to the president for him to act upon.
“The P.V. Obeng committee is going to look at the final report already which has been with the president and then they will look at the recommendations and look at how it will be implemented. It’s as simple as that. It’s not as if the P.V. Obeng committee is going to write the final report. No, the report is already there.”
Although President Mahama has given the assurance that he will act upon the recommendations in the GYEEDA report, he has not given any timelines.
According to the Youth and Sports Minister, due to the political, economic and social implications that the implementation of the recommendation will have, President Mahama is taking into account all these implications before he takes any move.
Meanwhile, Mr Afriyie Ankrah indicated that some amount of money has been released for the payment of beneficiaries, who according to him, “are innocent civilians in this war and they should not suffer unduly”.