The beneficiaries of the Youth Employment Agency have debunked allegations of being ‘ghosts’ taking undeserved allowances.
Mr Patrick Bosu, the President of Coalition of YEA beneficiaries, made this known to the Ghana News Agency, as members demonstrated at Esi Sutherland Children’s Park, Accra, where he led the YEA beneficiaries to demonstrate against the freezing of their allowances.
Some of the placards read: “Pay us our money, this is not the changes we voted for,” “We are not ghosts, respect our rights,” “Ghanaians are hungry,” “ Mr President Wake up, respect the court.”
Mr Bosu said a significant number of the beneficiaries had not received their allowances ranging from four to six months now.
He said payment of allowances to beneficiaries had been suspended due to the allegations.
He explained that the beneficiaries were subjected to thorough screening and selection process by the District Selection Panel made up of District Directors of YEA, Ghana Education Service, Ghana Police Service, Ghana Prison Service and Ghana Health Service before they were engaged.
Mr Bosu said the branch officers of Agriculture Development Bank and GHIPSS registered and opened bank accounts for the beneficiaries at the point of training and e-zwich numbers and cards were given to each beneficiary.
He said engagement letters were electronically and automatically generated by the YEA Registration platform, which offered the beneficiaries contract employment for a period of two years.
“Our attendance was validated monthly through a process of certification by the immediate supervisors and the YEA District Officers before we were paid monthly stipends,” he said.
He indicated that only 50 per cent of the 62,000 beneficiaries had received two months allowances.
The management of the YEA in April suspended payment of allowances to beneficiaries due to some discrepancies and fraudulent activities in their payroll.
A statement issued by the Acting Deputy Chief Executive of the YEA in charge of operations, Mr Bashiru Ibrahim explained that the decision was taken after preliminary investigations detected the anomalies.
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