Some youth activists of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) at Aboadze and Abuesi, both in the Shama District of the Western Region, are up in arms against the District Chief Executive (DCE), Joseph Amoah.
Allegedly, they are accusing the DCE of doing nothing to ensure that the qualified youth in the area are employed at the Aboadze Thermal Plant near Takoradi.
According to the incensed youth, the power-generating company had signed some agreement with the communities on how to employ qualified natives of Aboadze but the agreement had not been followed in recent times.
Therefore, they have suggested that the youth in the Aboadze community should be allocated at least 40 per cent quota of job placement at the thermal plant.
They claimed “. . . we are the immediate people to suffer when there is any unforeseen circumstance by the activities of the power-generating company. In fact, we are not saying Ghanaians who are not from Aboadze should not be employed. The 60 per cent job placement could be given to other people but we are only demanding 40 per cent job placement for the qualified indigenes of Aboadze and Abuesi”.
The youth said they were not happy with their DCE for suggesting that the district assembly should be the centre for employment at an ongoing project at the Aboadze Thermal Plant by Amandi Energy.
The youth bemoaned the fact that all permanent workers at the Thermal Plant were employed outside the Aboadze community and the few indigenes employed were casual workers.
Speaking to DAILY GUIDE in an interview after a press conference organized by the youth, Assembly Member for Aboadze Electoral Area, Isaac Baidoo, indicated that the majority of the youth in the area had what it takes to work at the Thermal Plant.
“We have both skilled and unskilled labour like mechanics, electricians, welders, civil engineers, and safety personnel required by the companies for employment”, he added.
He noted that the DCE stated at a recent town hall meeting held at Shama Senior High School that the employment problem, particularly with the energy-producing companies located in the district, had been solved adding “but I can tell you that our DCE was not telling the truth”.
“Information we gathered indicated that the DCE had been telling the companies operating in the enclave that the youth of Aboadze and Abuesi are troublesome people, which is not true”, he continued.
He alleged that the DCE had asked all the companies to direct all funds for co-operate social responsibilities through his office and which had deterred all the companies from doing what was expected of them as far as the co-operate social responsibility was concerned.
“We want the President and the current NPP government to know that if they want to win the next election in 2020 in Shama constituency, the DCE Joseph Amoah should be removed from office with immediate effect”
DAILY GUIDE was not able to reach DCE Amoah when the paper decided to call him for his reaction to the allegations levelled against him.
From Emmanuel Opoku, Takoradi