They will receive their first allowance at the end of this month.

The Chief Executive of the YEA, Kofi Agyapong, who disclosed this in interview with the Daily Graphic last Friday, also indicated that 2,000 youth under the prison warden assistants scheme had also started training.

They were part of 25,000 young Ghanaians being enrolled in various modules under the scheme by December this year, he added.

Training

Mr Agyapong said in the next few days, 15,000 community police assistants, in batches of 5,000, would also commence their training at various training depots of the Ghana Police Service.

He explained that the training for the wardens and community police assistants had become possible after a rigorous selection regime executed by the security agencies throughout the country.

Exit plan

He noted that in discussions prior to the training, it was agreed in principle, through the signing of memoranda of understanding, that the Ghana Police Service, the Ghana Prisons Service and the Ghana Health Service would offer the youth working under the schemes a quota when it came to employment or recruitment.

He said because the young ones, after their training, would become familiar with some workings and the environment of the police, the prisons and the health services, recruiting them into those services was considered a priority.

He said the 25,000 youth being recruited were aside from the over 1,000 who secured some form of employment during the various job fairs organised across the country.

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Mr Agyapong said the agency was in talks with private security firms to also recruit from the YEA stock.

He indicated that the YEA would sign a contract with a German construction firm that would recruit 700 artisans from Ghana, train them and offer them employment.

He noted that immediately the contract was signed in the course of this month, the YEA would open its portal for interested Ghanaian youth to apply and those who qualified would be given orientation by the agency, after which the German company would train them.

“We acknowledge the fact that we are in difficult times, but we are not resting. We want to offer some help to the youth. To do this is not easy, but we are defying the odds to offer practical assistance,” Mr Agyapong added.

The beneficiaries, who passed out in a colourful ceremony on Friday, October 14, 2022, will receive a monthly allowance of GHC 500, a 100% increment from the old GHC 250 monthly allowance.

They expressed so much joy and gratitude to President Nana Akufo-Addo for the opportunity given to them.

The YEA boss, Kofi Baah Agyepong, speaking at the ceremony noted that as part of the exit strategy, arrangements have been made with the Ministry of Health to place premium on applications from beneficiaries during admission processes into the various Nursing Training Schools, as a result of the field experience they have gathered.

Mr Agyepong reiterated the government’s commitment to fighting unemployment and Akufo-Addo’s resolve to provide the needed support.

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According to YEA, GRNMA is of a higher professional level and has a totally different focus from that of the CHWs.

YEA’s message comes on the back of an outcry from the association following the announcement to recruit some 3,000 persons into the health sector.

YEA had explained the recruitment forms part of efforts to augment the fight against Covid-19 in Ghana as well as provide quality health care delivery services, especially to rural communities.

A development YEA says has set confusion among members of GRNMA.

A statement, signed by the Director of Public Affairs, Kwasi Afriyie, noted that the CHWs were not nurses but provide health education and referrals for a wide of services.

Admitting it was not the mandate of the Authority to recruit professional nurses, the statement added the initiative was necessary to augment the health sector.

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The statement stressed the recruitment is under the CHW programme which ran from 2016 to 2018 and was approved by parliament as captured by the Agency’s Act, 2015 (Act 887).

Meanwhile, YEA has assured as part of the operational arrangements, GRMNA will actually be engaged prior to the rollout of the CHW programme to ensure smooth collegial working arrangements.

Read the full statement below:

Press Release – Chw by Dennis Adu on Scribd