Youth Employment Agency Bill passed
A bill to give legal effect to the establishment of the Youth Employment Agency (YEA) was passed into law by Parliament yesterday.
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The YEA will replace the Ghana Youth Employment and Entrepreneurial Development Agency (GYEEDA).
The object of YEA is to develop, co-ordinate, supervise and facilitate the creation of jobs for the youth.
The Minister of Employment and Labour Relations, Mr Haruna Iddrisu, moved the motion for the passage of the bill, which was seconded by Mr Joseph Yileh Chireh, the Member of Parliament (MP) for Wa West.
With the passage of the bill, the new agency now takes over the assets of the National Youth Employment Programme (NYEP) and GYEEDA.
Between 45,000 and 100,000 youth are expected to be engaged under the YEA.
‘No one will be paid below minimum wage’
Speaking to the Daily Graphic after the bill had been passed, Mr Iddrisu said a novelty under the new law was that no one recruited would be paid below the national minimum wage, adding that youth in both the formal and the informal sectors would benefit.
He said once the President assented to the bill, the governance structures would be set up and management strengthened for a major kick-off.
He said a new procurement department would be created for the agency to ensure value for money through open, transparent and competitive procurement processes.
He said at least 30,000 to 35,000 youth would be employed under the waste and sanitation module to be funded from the District Assemblies Common Fund (DACF), as the case had been.
“The agency will have regional and district offices and will create employment resource centres across the country,” he said.
Background
The erstwhile Kufuor administration instituted the NYEP, but the programme was transformed into GYEEDA under the Mills administration.
It is an initiative set up to lessen the economic pressure on unemployed youth in Ghana.
The programme is primarily to provide unemployed youth with skills and short-term jobs.
But with the emergence of reports of financial malfeasance in the agency, President John Mahama ordered the management of GYEEDA to freeze all its modules until ongoing reforms had been completed.
Certificate of emergency
Last year, the government, under a certificate of emergency, laid before Parliament a bill to restructure GYEEDA and give it legal backing to become a national programme to be implemented by all governments.
The Minister of Employment and Labour Relations who laid the bill before Parliament, said following a series of Cabinet discussions aimed at responding to the needs of the youth, it had become necessary to enact the Youth Employment Agency Bill to co-ordinate all youth employment and entrepreneurial programmes.
The new law names the sources of funds for the agency as money approved by Parliament, 80 per cent of the Communications Service Tax, 10 per cent of the DACF, five per cent of the Ghana Education Trust Fund, as well as donations, gifts and grants.
It also states the composition of board members, tenure of office of members, development of programmes and the establishment of regional and district committees.
The law is expected to receive Presidential assent within seven days.
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