The Deputy Coordinator of Communications for the National Youth Employment Programme [NYEP] has accused the erstwhile Kuffuor-led New Patriotic Party [NPP] administration of “haphazardly and recklessly” implementing the NYEP. According to Ibrahim Murtala Mohammed the failure of the then NPP administration to add a legal instrument to the program has led to bottlenecks hindering the smooth implementation of the NYEP as well as the ability of the program to access funds. “If there were to be a legal instrument, at least there would have been some force, some compulsion for them [NHIS, GetFund, VAT] to release the money, and failure to do so, NYEP could have taken them to court. So they give you the money at will and that has been the major challenge of the NYEP” he said. Speaking on Multi TV’s political talk show, Majority Caucus, Murtala Mohammed said “if you are having a programme like the NYEP, there should be a legal instrument. Mind you, you are talking about a programme that you would have to take monies to be paying, if indeed you want that programme to sustain, you need to look at the sources. Now there wasn’t any legal instrument.” While extolling the implementation of the Youth Employment programme by the NPP, Murtala Mohammed believes the NPP did not carry out due diligence while preparing to implement the programme. “We met a programme, that indeed the intention was very good, the programme was a good programme, we’ve always acknowledged it but it was haphazardly and recklessly implemented by the NPP” he contended. The Deputy NYEP Communications Coordinator also dismissed claims by the NPP that they created about 500,000 jobs under the NYEP. According to him, such claims are false since the NDC met less than 40,000 beneficiaries of the NYEP. He said the former NPP did not believe in the sustenance of the NYEP hence it allocated only 20 percent of the proceeds from the Communication Service Tax [CST] to the NYEP. He however noted that the NDC administration has since taking over the management of the program, increased the NYEP’s allocation from the CST to 60 percent from the 20 percent it used to receive under the NPP. Ibrahim Murtala Mohammed stated that the government has been able to employ over 30,000 physically challenged persons under the NYEP nationwide as well as made new additions to the program with modules in trade and vocation, youth in cloth making, youth in agriculture, youth in bamboo making, youth in smock making as well as an exit plan to cater for beneficiaries who need to move on from the program.