More than 10,000 youth will be recruited under the Community Improvement Programme (CIP), a flagship initiative of the government to ameliorate the growing unemployment problem in the country.
The Minister of Employment and Labour Relations, Mr Haruna Iddrisu, who made this known during the inauguration of an eight-member board for the Youth Employment Agency (YEA), said the ministry would roll out the recruitment by August this year.
According to him, the government intended to situate the National Vocational Training Institute (NVTI) to address the growing skills mismatch on the labour market.
He said individuals, who would be employed under the YEA, would wear the same uniform across the country, adding that other initiatives and modules, such as sanitation, education, health, among other professions, would be under the CIP.
New board
The eight-member board is under the chairmanship of Mr Samuel A. Jabanyite, while the others are Ms Alice Attipoe, Ms Emma Akua Amankwa and Mr Eugene Korletey.
The rest are Ms Frieda Yandanbon Billa, Mr Ras Mubarak, Mr Courage Barlon and the Chief Executive Officer of the YEA, Mr Vincent Kuagbenu.
The agency has been without a functioning board since the passage of the YEA Act, 2015 (Act 887) after the President had signed it in April this year.
The mandate of the board for the next four years is to guide the management through the formulation of appropriate policies to strengthen the systems and structures of the agency.
Mandate
Inaugurating the board, Mr Iddrisu urged it to allow the procurement processes of the agency to be subjected to open tender processes.
Under the law, he said, the board was mandated to establish district and regional offices to run the operations of the agency.
He urged the board to ratify the employment of persons with disabilities to ensure they were appropriately treated.
Employment
Speaking on behalf of the board, Mr Jabanyite commended the government for reposing confidence in the members to carry out the task.
He said the youth were the bedrock of the development of the country, hence the need for them to be employed.
Kayayei recruitment
After the inauguration ceremony, the minister and the Parliamentary Select Committee on Employment, as well as the newly constituted board, visited the Dignity DTRT Company at the Adjabeng Free Zone enclave.
The visit was for the board members to familiarise themselves with operations of the apparel and textile company.
Mr Iddrisu said 1,000 youth, including 500 head porters (Kayayei) at Agbobgloshie, would be recruited into the apparel and textile industry.
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