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| Appointment Committee begins vetting |
7/24/2007 |
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Accra, July 23, GNA - Nana Akomea, Minister-Designate, Ministry of Manpower, Youth and Employment, said on Monday that it was in the interest of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to create more jobs for as many youth as possible under the National Youth Employment Programme (NYEP).
He said it was, therefore, surprising that there were reports that the programme was only engaging NPP supporters.
He said when given the nod as the Minister of the Employment Ministry, he would set up a committee to investigate complaints that the NYEP was an avenue to create jobs for party supporters.
Nana Akomea said these in response to questions when he appeared before Parliament''s Appointment Committee to be vetted.
The Minister-designate told the committee that although he was aware of a mandatory 12. 5 per cent contributions by employers to the social security scheme on behalf of employees, he needed to find out whether the NYEP, as an employer, was carrying out this obligation. He said the NYEP was in transition and had some teething problems such as funding but a study needed to be carried out to find out whether the programme was capable of paying social security contributions on behalf of those employed.
On the question of whether the NYEP, was paying the minimum wage to those employed under the programme, he said there were various stages of engagement within the programme and it was still evolving.
Mr. Joseph Labik, Independent Member of Parliament for Bunkpurugu/Yunyoo, wanted to find out why it appeared little focus and resources were directed at the Department of Social Welfare.
Nana Akomea said the Department was not under funded and was doing a lot to take care of the vulnerable.
He said what was lacking was that its activities had not received a lot of public attention.
The Minister-designate in response to another question, said it should be possible for tertiary institutions to run courses on developing the entreprenuering skills for all final year students to help them set up businesses on their own, once out of school.
When Mr. Akwasi Osei-Adjei, Minister-Designate, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, NEPAD and Regional Integration, took his turn, he told the committee that it was cost effective to buy houses for Ghana''s missions abroad instead of renting out places to house them.
He said Ghana had had a mission in Egypt right from the 1950''s and it made more sense to have a policy to buy a house rather then rent a place for such missions.
In response to a question on changing the name of the Foreign Ministry to that of Ministry of International Relations, he said the change of name did not matter, so long as the objectives and activities of Ghana''s foreign policy were being carried out.
Mr Osei-Adjei told the committee that he was aware that some monies were collected by Ghana''s missions for the Ghana@50 celebrations, but added that the money did not come to the Foreign Ministry. He promised to furnish Parliament with details of where the monies went.
Source:
GNA
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