Pay our allowances now – Youth in Afforestation workers demand

• Posted on September 18, 2018
• by Ellsamwise King
• Comment

Some workers of the Youth in Afforestation model of the Youth Employment Agency (YEA), have given the government and the Forestry Commission, till the end of this month to release their accumulated allowances else they will embark on a  strike.

The workers, who say they haven’t received payment for over three months, also cite a breach of their contracts over the amount of money paid them.

“We have given them up to the end of this month to settle all those indebtedness. We understand this is a donor-funded project so if funds have been released why should people work without allowances,” one of the beneficiaries, warned in a Citi News interview.

He said the Youth in Afforestation module is donor-funded; hence, funds must be available to pay beneficiaries regularly.

“There are some who started in April, some joined in May, June, and July and as of last two weeks, and no one has been issued any allowance. We heard the PRO of Forestry Commission and other officers on the radio saying they have made payments. But the reality is that just as last Monday they had not made any payments.”

“In the labor regulation, if you engage someone and you want to review the condition service, it is ideal to involve the person in the process. You don’t draft your own thing and go into the media and say you are slashing their allowances; those who are supervisors who were receiving GHc1200 at the end of the month will now receive GHc700. It is so disrespectful,” he stated.

We’ve employed 20,000 youth in afforestation programme – Nana Addo

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in August 2018 said his government had employed some 20,000 young men and women across the country to help manage the country’s forests, combat desertification and tackle land degradation.

Speaking at the launch of the Youth in Afforestation Programme on Monday in Kumasi, President Akufo-Addo stated the programme is in line with the NPP’s 2016 manifesto commitment of reforestation, forest rehabilitation, and forest protection activities.