The National Youth Employment Programme is to be overhauled to make it more responsive to the needs of Ghanaians. Officials say the move has become necessary due to what they say are irregularities and anomalies detected especially in the Community Protection module. A Deputy Coordinator, Alhassan Tapsoba, says a house-cleaning program has been launched to restructure the programme. This includes the setting up of a permanent office where data on personnel of the Program especially the Community Police could be traced, the creation of a reliable pool of data and organization of workshops for beneficiaries. The NYEP was initiated by the erstwhile NPP administration to provide employment for the majority of unemployed Ghanaian youth. It has an estimated 100 thousand beneficiaries engaged in the Community Protection, Health Assistants and Youth in Agriculture modules. Like many government initiatives, the NYEP faces challenges such as unpaid salaries, lack of proper data collection, and job security of beneficiaries due to change of government, among others. Mr. Alhassan Tapsoba says government has no intention of scrapping the program. According to him, about 5,000 new applicants would be considered for employment next month. Mr. Tapsoba is however unhappy about some draw-backs due to the inefficiencies plaguing NYEP. According to him, some people who are not with the Community Police module wear the uniform just to deceive unsuspecting Ghanaians, a situation he describes as illegal. Some Personnel of the Community police he claimed also make arrests on their own without the assistance of police, a situation he says defeats the structure of the programme. Mr. Tapsoba warns Community Police personnel whose conduct contravenes their service code would be arrested and prosecuted. Credit: Ohemeng Tawiah, Nhyira FM-Kumasi