Government can't pay SHS graduates recruited to CHPS compounds - NDC man

A member of the NDC Communication team, Kwadwo Danquah has kicked against the government’s decision to employ some SHS graduates under the YEA to assist with health care delivery at CHPS compounds in rural areas.

Speaking on Asempa Yetia on Power 97.9 FM Wednesday night, he doubted the government had the financial muscle to pay them their monthly stipends as the economy is crumbling.

“The issue about SHS graduates to work in CHPS compounds is that the government cannot can’t pay them. For the past 3 years, the government has not been able to employ them. Those that were employed have been working for some time now haven’t been paid so how does the government pay them,” Kwadwo Danquah said.

This comes after the Youth Employment Agency (YEA) said it will pay SHS graduates who will get the opportunity to be recruited under the module GH¢400 per month.

Despite a protest from the Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives Association (GRNMA) to employ qualified nurses to the CHP compounds, YEA says it is well-equipped to pay the 5,000 senior high school graduates who will be posted to the health facilities to work.

These SHS graduates will at the end of this month be employed to assist with basic health care delivery at CHPS compounds in rural communities.

The Head of Corporate Affairs of the YEA, Emmanuel Kwasi Afriyie, has argued that all the agency’s programmes under this administration have been sustained and this will be no exception.

“We are fully prepared to sustain the programme,” he assured.

But a skeptical Kwadwo Danquah recalled how the Akufo-Addo government has failed to pay NABCO trainees their allowances while wondering how the SHS graduates under the YEA can be paid.

“Even Teacher trainee allowances are in arrears so where would the government get money to pay these SHS graduates?”

Meanwhile, the Director-General of the Ghana Health Service, Dr. Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, who does not see anything wrong with the development, said the system has been in place since 2016 and is geared toward community engagement, not clinical work.