General News of Wednesday, 21 February 2018
Source: Myjoyonline.com
2018-02-21
CEO of the YEA, Justin Kondua Frimpong
The Youth Employment Agency (YEA) says from June 2018, it will no longer proceed with a contract on the Youth in Sanitation module with waste management company, Zoomlion.
At a press conference held Wednesday, the Agency’s Chief Executive Officer, Justin Kodua Frimpong said he is unimpressed with the manner in which the module which has been running since 2006 has been handled by the service provider.
Joy News’ Kwesi Parker Wilson reported My Kodua as saying from June 2018 other companies will now be allowed to bid for the module.
He said the decision was arrived at following a thorough assessment of the previous agreement with Zoomlion.
The assessment, he indicated, sought to undertake a thorough review of the number of beneficiaries on the module, an assessment of the agency’s relationship with the service provider and payment arrangement of the module.
At a head count conducted by the Agency, only 38, 848 out of the 45,320 number of beneficiaries showed up.
In response to the discrepancy in the data, the service provider contended that beneficiary apathy and short notice resulted in the discrepancy.
It was also discovered that most of the beneficiaries were recruited without recourse to the Agency.
“Therefore, no appointment letters were issued to these beneficiaries…a practice the agency find unacceptable.
“Until now the service provider has been unable to furnish the Agency with the payment record of beneficiaries on its payroll,” the CEO disclosed.
Also, investigations into the amount paid to the beneficiaries revealed that out of the GHS500 government releases to the service provider for each beneficiary, only GHS100 is paid to them.
“Whilst GHS 400 goes to the service provider as management fees, this again a practice we consider an affront to the beneficiaries on the programme,” Mr Frimpong stressed.
It was further established following investigations that a cabinet directive in 2016, directing the Agency to conduct any future arrangement with the service provider in accordance with the Agency’s Act and the Youth Employment Agency Regulation 2016 LI 2231 was not adhered to.
As a result of the review, the Agency’s CEO said “management of the sanitation module will be subjected to competitive bidding in line with the Youth Employment Agency Act and Legal Instrument.”
“From the review of the module, management acting under the directive of the governing board has therefore decided that all persons interested in working under the sanitation module to reapply on a date soon to be communicated,” Mr Frimpong said.
He said under his leadership, “management is committed to the president’s vision of ensuring value for money, putting the youth at the centre of the development agenda, ensuring transparency and accountable governance and maintaining a clean and healthy environment.”
Mr Frimpong said subsequent arrangements with service providers will pay beneficiaries what they deserve.
He debunked the notion that the scrapping of the current agreement is a way to provide party supporters with jobs, stressing, it is time for things to be done right.
“We are going to go through a procurement process and that is what our LI says..that any person who wants to work with the Agency must satisfy the requirements of the law.”
“If it found that Zoomlion has the capability to continue with the work, then “so be it”, he said adding “But at the end of the day we want to ensure that there is transparency, value for money and there is proper database of those working under the module,” he added.