I will never encourage any unemployed youth to work with YEA – Bossman Adutwum

An aggrieved Supervisor with the Youth Employment Agency (YEA), Bossman Adutwum, has warned unemployed individuals against any attempt of seeking a job opportunity at YEA.

He maintained that persons who settle for any job offer at the Agency do so at their own risk and should be ready to accept responsibility for their actions in the event of any disappointment.

In an interview on Campus Exclusive on Tuesday, April 27, 2021, the disgruntled supervisor, who works under YEA’s Tree Planting Project, recounted his ordeal of not being paid for 16 months.

The situation, Bossman noted, has adversely affected his standard of living, especially in the wake of the economic hardships brought by the coronavirus pandemic.

He has, therefore, issued a strong caution to persons who have plans of working with the Youth Employment Agency.

“Frankly speaking, I will never ask anybody to [work with YEA], especially if you don’t have any other job doing,” he said.

According to him, all frantic efforts made to get their 16-month salary paid have yielded no results, despite the good works they are doing to protect Ghana’s environment and weather system.

“Our salary is not coming, we’ve been discussing things with the new Minister; we enjoy doing the job but people are no more interested because of our payment module…

“We have gone through all the protocols [to get our salaries], we have done our best. The minister even admitted during his vetting that we’ve not been paid,” he bemoaned.

Speaking on behalf of other supervisors and field workers who have been stationed at the Achimota Forest, Mr. Bossman Adutwum urged leadership of the Youth Employment Agency, the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations, and allied agencies to swiftly resolve their unpaid wages as soon as possible.

“Since December 2019 till date, we haven’t been paid, and we’ve been talking about this issue for long."

“The moment you mention it, they will come up and say they are working on it, everything is in the pipeline…you know this kind of political talk. For we at YEA, we don’t know where our payment is coming from, this has become worrisome to all of us,” he added.

Bossman Adutwum wants the government to ensure that all employed workers enjoy better conditions of service, including regular payment of their salaries.

He registered his displeasure over the seeming politicization of salary payment processes in the country, calling for the institution of convenient payment protocols to reduce challenges employees face monthly to get their salaries.

“Some of us are disappointed in this NPP government because people have been employed, yet, are not getting their salaries…we need the money to be paid, we’ve worked so we need our money,” the angry supervisor requested.

He further suggested that government’s quest to create jobs for the citizenry should consider sustainability measures for same.