All regional directors of the Youth Employment Agency (YEA) have been asked to go on leave after a meeting with new acting Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Justin Kodua Frimpong.
A letter written to them in that regard said: “You are kindly requested to proceed on your 2017 annual leave effective Monday, April 3, 2017, to 26 May 2017.”
The letter directed them to hand over all official documents and properties in their possession to the acting Deputy Chief Executive Officer (operations).
It is not clear yet if the forced leave is a precursor to the replacement or firing of the 10 directors who have been asked to report to the CEO when they resume duties.
YEA was established under the Youth Employment Act 2015 (Act 887) to empower young people to contribute meaningfully to the socio-economic and sustainable development of the nation.
Its objective is to support the youth between the ages of 15 and 35 years through skills training and internship modules to transit from a situation of unemployment to that of employment.
To ensure sustainability, the policy focus of YEA was changed in 2009 from the traditional modules which have payroll implications to the self employment modules such as Trades and Vocation modules through public private partnership so as to reduce the burden on payment of stipend for the Paid Internship Module.
This has attracted international acclaim, with the BBC ranking YEA as the Best Youth Employment Programme in Africa in 2011. Available records indicate that as at December, 2012, over 600,000 beneficiaries were recruited by the YEA.
New modules were introduced and some of the existing modules such as the Youth in Security Services and Trades and Vocation were reviewed and expanded to meet the growing demand for youth employment in the country.
Its vision was to become an outstanding public sector agency facilitating and creating sustainable employment opportunities for the youth nationwide.
It also has a mission to lead the coordination of employment opportunities and creation of jobs for the youth in Ghana.
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