Malik Basintale, the Acting Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Youth Employment Agency (YEA), has announced the organization’s plan to increase allowances for beneficiaries of the sanitation module by more than 300 percent.
He stated that the current monthly allowance of GH¢258 is “woefully inadequate.”
Speaking to the media after appearing before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament on Friday in Parliament House, Accra, Mr. Basintale said, “When I took office, I swore by my late grandfather’s grave that no contract would be signed to pay GH¢258. That figure is unacceptable in this modern era. In any future contract, we will not go below the minimum wage. We are looking at more than a 300 percent increase.”
He also disclosed that approximately 5,000 beneficiaries who did not report for duty would forfeit two months of unpaid salaries. “We have not discovered ghost names; what we found are individuals who were absent. Those at post have been validated, but those absent will lose two months’ pay,” he explained.
Mr. Basintale further indicated that validated beneficiaries could attest that their allowances had already been credited to their accounts.
He added that a committee had been tasked with reviewing tenders to select a new waste management service provider, which marks a new chapter for the agency’s sanitation module.