The Office of the President has directed a withdrawal of Ghana Youth Employment and Entrepreneurial Development Agency (GYEEDA) advert requesting for proposals for an ICT Training Module.

The new advert was not sanctioned by the appropriate authority, the Minister of Information and Media Relations, Mahama Ayariga said in a statement issued on Thursday.

“The request for proposals to implement an ICT model presently being advertised by GYEEDA is therefore without authorization and should be withdrawn,” the statement said.

Government in January cancelled all GYEEDA contracts with service providers, following a recommendation by a ministerial committee, which investigated allegations of fraud and financial impropriety uncovered in a serialized report by Joy News.

The committee also recommended the restructuring of the programme with parliamentary approval regulating its operations. Although these are yet to be done, advertisements inviting service providers to run new modules for the Agency were placed in the dailies.

The Member of Parliament for Obuasi West constituency in the Ashanti Region, Kwaku Kwarteng demanded that the government suspends ongoing advertisement seeking to engage new service providers for GYEEDA.

"It is very obvious that government officials are rushing the new modules and seeking new service providers because doing so creates room for misappropriating public funds in the name of the programme," he told Myjoyonline.com.

But in today’s statement, the Information Ministry reiterated that “all directives on GYEEDA remain in force”.

It said the President has therefore directed the Acting Executive Director of GYEEDA to expedite action on the reforms contained in the initial Presidential directives on GYEEDA, to pave the way for implementation of modules that would create job opportunities for the youth.

Mahama Ayariga later told Joy News it is not the priority of government to develop new models. Its focus, he said, is to ensure that the proposed reforms, including proper legal framework, are efficiently implemented.

He however noted that it was “regrettable” the reforms have not been completed.

Though tax payers’ money was squandered on the unauthorized adverts, nobody would be sanctioned for the waste, the Minister suggested.

“It is not illegal for them to develop a new model,” he further explained.

Despite the fact that the first advert was placed in the state owned Daily Graphic about a month ago, it took Joy News’ reports, following Wednesday’s advert, to get government's attention to the unlawful GYEEDA advertisement, Mr. Ayariga confessed.