A member of the legal team of governing National Democratic Congress, Abraham Amaliba says the current administration has committed a "great mistake" by not initiating reforms at the Ghana Employment and Entrepreneurial Agency (GYEEDA), when it took over power from the New Patriotic Party.
According to Mr. Amaliba, government ought to have carried out a total overhaul of operations at the former National Youth Employment Programme (NYEP), just like it has done at the National Health Insurance Authority which saw the nation save funds which hither to were going into individual hands.
A similar move he said, could avoided the situation where people took advantage of the system by and awarded contracts without recourse to the law.
Government earlier this week released a GYEEDA on investigations into alleged rot in the operations of the Agency. The report describes serious lapses and a disturbing trend of financial impropriety at the youth employment agency.
The investigation was commissioned by the Ministry of Youth and Sports which has oversight responsibility on GYEEDA. The report was given to President John Mahama who turned it over to his presidential adviser P.V Obeng to review and recommend an action plan on the content of the report.
The report recommended the institution of a GYEEDA bill and asked the Economic and Organized Crime Office (EOCO) to prosecute officials cited as engaging in financial impropriety. It also recommended an interim management team to manage the youth agency.
It listed among others, the lack of a legal framework to guide managers in entering into contractual agreements with service providers.
Speaking Saturday on Newsfile, Mr. Amaliba said: "The NDC administration made a great mistake by inheriting the GYEEDA and moving along with it".
He said the lack of a legal framework was not so fatal as the managers could have been guided by provisions in the procurement law in entering into contractual agreements with service providers. He therefore urged the agencies concerned to follow through the recommendations and ensure that all monies lost to the state are retrieved.
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