The CEO of the Youth Employment Agency (YEA) says President Akufo-Addo’s administration is very sensitive to the plight of Ghanaians in the face of global economic crises.

Kofi Baah Agyepong said the President is resolved to reduce the pressure and burden on Ghanaians through the further creation of jobs, skills acquisitions and entrepreneurial development of the youth.

He said this is evident in the creation of over 17,000 jobs over the last four months by the Agency through its Community Heath Worker Programme (CHWS), Prisons Office Assistants, Community Protection Assistants (CPAs), the YEA Jobcentre and partnerships with the private sector.

Mr Agyepong said this when he was addressing a passing-out parade of 1,064 of the second batch of CPAs Beneficiaries drawn from the Bono, Ashanti, Bono East, Ahafo and Western North regions.

This represented 5400 persons who were concurrently graduating at the various Police Training Schools in the country.

In his speech, the CEO said, “Akufo-Addo has reiterated the economic hardship Ghana and the rest of the world is going through and has thus charged YEA and other MDAs to refocus on creating employment and improving conditions of service for employees.”

According to him, “the Agency has already created over 17,000 jobs since his assumption as CEO and is poised to create thousands more jobs before the end of 2023.”

“Apart from rolling out the traditional modules, allowances of beneficiaries have now been increased to ¢500.”

He added, “There is also a deepened partnership with the diplomatic community and private sector to create more private sector-led jobs.”

Mr Agyepong also told the gathering that, YEA’s new agenda also creates a platform for people in the technical and artisan sectors with an oncoming partnership with NEIP, NVTI, GEA etc.

To the beneficiaries under the Community Protection Assistants module, the CEO advised them “not to compromise on their professional integrity in the course of discharging their duties in the communities.”

He added that “the Agency would not hesitate to endorse sanctions to weed out any CPA personnel by the GPS for infractions in the rules of their engagement.”

Mr Kofi Agyepong explained that such caution was against the background of assurance by the GPS to sign an MoU with the Agency to give consideration and priority to CPA personnel in future recruitment into the mainstream service.

He explained that the Agency had taken the necessary steps to clear all outstanding arrears owed to beneficiaries to disburse their minds of engaging in malfeasance.

He assured that the NPP government under the leadership of Nana Akufo-Addo had made strenuous efforts in spite of the economic turbulence to release funds timeously to meet the monthly stipends of the beneficiaries.

The graduation ceremony was concurrently held in Pwalugu Police Training School and led by the Deputy CEO in charge of Operations, Ibrahim Bashiru.

In Accra, it was led by Director of Technical Service Chris Arthur, while Regional Director Jerry Adu Poku was in charge in the Eastern Region.