Youth Empowerment for Life (YEfL) Ghana, a leading youth development organization with operational areas across the five regions in the northern ecological zone, has commended President John Dramani Mahama for the establishment of a Ministry of Youth Development and Empowerment.
According to YEfL Ghana, the call for a youth development ministry has been long overdue due to the overconcentration of the Youth and Sports Ministry on sports and the National Youth Authority programmatic focus not living up to expectation.
In a statement issued on Wednesday January 23, YEfL Ghana described the new portfolio as timely and effective "In the last five years, the following allocations were made by the ministry: Compensation and Administration allocated 41% and peaking at 90% in 2022 whereas Youth Services received 2% peaking at 23% and sports development 8% and peaking at 39% consistently, the then ministry underfunded youth development," the statement said.
It added that "In spite of this trend, and following the introduction of the 5% DACF to address funding deficits to the NYA for youth related services, an intriguing revelation uncovered how the under resourced National Youth Authority continued to allocate substantial funds exceeding four [4] million Ghana Cedis towards sports infrastructural development." It further states that "resources intended for youth-focused initiatives were, in part, being directed towards sports-related infrastructure.
