Helga Boadi
The first batch of graduands of the Youth Enterprise Support (YES) Initiative has stated they have not received any financial support to start or enhance their businesses as some functionaries of the National Demopcratic Congress (NDC) are claiming.
“We were promised to be given an amount of GH¢50,000 each to help start our businesses. But since we completed the training about eight months ago, nothing has been given to us.
“Yet government functionaries go on radio and other platforms to spew lies to Ghanaians that beneficiaries of the YES Initiative have been given their package,” they alleged.
The 107 graduands claimed they were taken through three-month training in poultry, piggery and fish farming and greenhouse farming methods, aquaculture and ICT, among others, in August, last year at the University of Ghana’s Research Centre at Kade in the Eastern region.
Showiness
They disclosed that before the training, they were taken to the Flagstaff House to meet President John Mahama who assured them that immediately after the three-month training they would be assisted to pursue their dreams.
At the graduation ceremony in February, this year, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the YES Initiative, Helga Boadi, indicated that GH¢2.5 million was to be disbursed to the 107 beneficiaries.
According to her, GH¢50,000 was the cap for each beneficiary depending on the project proposal and that the beneficiaries were also expected to repay those monies with no fixed interest.
However, speaking to BUSINESS GUIDE, Manfred Darko-Konadu, leader of the Green House Farming Trainees, mentioned that they always become furious whenever they hear activists of the ruling NDC peddling falsehood that the beneficiaries had been given their package.
White Elephant
“The YES project is just there by name. It is not working; in fact the youth are not getting anything from the initiative. May be it can be one of the avenues to create, loot and share which has been the hallmark of the NDC government,” he asserted.
He stated that “As I speak to you, none of the about 107 first batch of the beneficiaries has receive any money or the so-called technical assistance which was promised.”
Mr Darko-Konadu pointed out that the YES Initiative was one of the many unfulfilled promises of the current government.
He indicated that the initiative was working effectively when it was the National Youth Employment Programme (NYEP) under the previous Kufuor administration.
Backdrop
The YES Initiative was established in August 2014 as a special youth initiative under the Office of the President with a seed fund of GHC10 million to support the youth to create their own businesses.
Young Ghanaians between the ages of 18 and 35 with a minimum of a Junior High School (JHS) qualification and viable business proposals qualify to apply to YES for financial and technical support.
Applicants are required to present and defend their business proposals before an expert panel drawn from relevant professional bodies and business sectors.
From Emmanuel Opoku, Takoradi