President committed to providing youth employment

The Member of Parliament (MP) for the Agona East Constituency in the Central Region, Mrs Queenstar Maame Pokuah Sawyerr, has reiterated President John Dramani Mahama’s commitment to support the youth to engage in productive businesses.

According to her, through the Youth Enterprise Support (YES) and the Micro and Small Loans Company (MASLOC), the government was assisting unemployed youth to set up their own businesses to contribute to the socio-economic development of the country.

“The NDC government would continue to harness the potential of the teeming youth by providing them with the necessary assistance so that such individuals would establish private enterprises to improve their living standards as well as help to speed up the progress of the country,” the MP said.

Presentation

Mrs Pokuah Sawyerr, who is also the Deputy Central Regional Minister, stated this in an interview with the Daily Graphic after presenting five MASLOC tricycles to five beneficiaries at Agona Asafo in the Agona East District.

She said she would later present five additional tricycles to five individuals to bring the number of tricycles to 10.
The MP, through her effort, had already presented five MASLOC taxi cabs to some drivers who would work and pay for them over a period.

The beneficiaries of the tricycles would each pay GH¢375 a month over a three-year period.

She stated that the government would not relent in its efforts to empower the youth with employable skills as well as provide them start-up equipment to engage in profitable jobs to better their lot.

“Due to the bad nature of some of the roads in the area, some farmers are unable to transport their farm produce to market centres, which always causes a chunk of the produce to be on the farms to rot,’’ she said.

She expressed optimism that the tricycles would particularly facilitate the transportation of foodstuffs to marketing centres for sale.

Appeal to beneficiaries

She appealed to the beneficiaries to put the tricycles to good use and properly maintain them to enable them to last long.

She further urged them to employ proper management practices and pay back the cost of tricycles to enable others to benefit from the scheme under which such vehicles were being provided.

One of the beneficiaries, Mr Edem Kodwo Dzoka, on behalf of the others, expressed gratitude to the government and the MP for giving them the tricycles to help them earn a living.

MASLOC Coordinator

The MASLOC Coordinator for the area, Mr Frank Ofori Dadzie, said the MASLOC project was to help the youth do their own business to help reduce the high unemployment rate in the country.

He admonished the youth to embrace the concept and take advantage of it to manage and sustain the respective businesses they would set up.

Community visits

In a related development, Mrs Sawyerr, after the presentation, paid working visits to some communities in the district to interact with them and to also explain to them steps she was taking to address some of their needs.

The visit took her to places such as Obratwaowu, Osuankwaa, Obokor and Sesekwaa. She donated 50 bags of cement to support the Obratwaowu market project.

She told the members of communities without the government had approved the connection of 23 communities in the area to electricity under the Rural Electrification Project, and indicated that the project would soon begin.

Writer’s email: gilbertagbey@gmail.com