<<Print>>

About 200 health extension workers engaged under the National Youth Employment Programme (NYEP) are up in arms with the authorities because they claim they have not received salaries for the past 10 months. However, Ibrahim Murtala Mohammed, a Deputy Coordinator of the National Youth Employment Programme (NYEP) in charge of communications, has told DAILY GUIDE that the delay was as a result of a technical hitch, assuring that the salaries were ready and would be paid on Monday. Yesterday, about 40 of the workers who operate in health facilities in the Accra Metropolis stormed the NYEP headquarters near the Ridge Hospital to press home their demand for salaries, but were turned away. According to their leaders � who do not want to be named for fear of victimization � they had not received salaries since they started full work in December 2010, but nobody seemed to care about their condition of service. �When we got to the premises we requested to see the accountant to know the reasons why we have not been paid but we were not allowed to see him,� the leaders noted. �They asked us to rather put down our names and account numbers,� they said, adding, �writing down our particulars has become a common thing but we always do not hear from them.� They alleged that the coordinators had employed people through the back-door who were not working but were being paid, noting that, that might have accounted for the NYEP�s inability to pay them. They said when they were engaged, their salaries were pegged at GH� 120.00. Explaining the circumstances leading to the delay, Murtala Mohammed told DAILY GUIDE that �when a person is given an appointment letter, the person reports to where he or she has been sent and would have received a letter of acceptance.� He said having received the letter of acceptance, the district coordinator would then give the person a letter of introduction to be sent to the bank for the opening of account, �and usually we do it at ADB and where there is no ADB we allow them to open their accounts in community banks there.� He said after opening the account, the beneficiary was expected to assume work and the head of the institution where the beneficiary was posted to would write to the headquarters, through the district coordinator, to conclude that indeed the person was working. Murtala Mohammed stated that after the processes were completed, the headquarters would then certify that the beneficiary could start collecting his or her salary. He said there were several reasons why some of the beneficiaries might not have received their salaries, saying, �Some of the beneficiaries might not have reported for work in order to go through the processes to qualify for salary.� He intimated that some of the beneficiaries had gone through all the processes but their district coordinators delayed in sending their information to the headquarters for them to sanction the process. �We have told the coordinators that even if they have three people they should send the information to us. They should not wait to get the full list before they send them to us,� he stated. �I can tell you that we have sent the money to the ADB. We were expecting that the bank would have credited the accounts of the beneficiaries but that has not been done because once they credit the accounts the bank would send them text messages.� He noted that they had done a follow up at the bank and the bank assured them that all the accounts would be credited on Monday, saying, �It is certain that from Monday they will enjoy their money.�