Beneficiaries of the government’s Youth in Afforestation programme say they are yet to receive their allowances as promised by the government.
Chief Executive Officer of the Forestry Commission, John Alottey, on February 15, 2022, assured the youth that they will be paid this week after they had picketed in front of the Forestry Commission.
“The assurance is that by this week, you will be paid. By the close of the day, I will be able to confirm the number of months,” he said.
But the youth say they are yet to receive payment from the Commission.
The Convener of the Youth in Afforestation, Bossman Adu Twum Annin, told Citi News the group was promised two months allowance this week and the other two months to be paid later.
“Yesterday [Thursday], I called to confirm, and they said today [Friday]. I made another call this [Friday] morning, and they said I should wait till the close of day. I told them by 5:00 pm, I will check our accounts to confirm whether the money is in the accounts, if not, we would meet with our members on Monday again to see the way forward.”
Some personnel of the program on Monday, February 14, 2022, picketed in front of the Forestry Commission office in Accra to press home their demands over stipends owed them for more than 4 months, and also demand better working conditions.
They wielded placards with inscriptions such as: “No long talk, pay us our money o”, “No allowance, No Green Ghana”, “We are hungry, no money to feed our families, pay us oo,” amongst others to express their concerns.
Adding to the complaints, the Convener stated that each person is to plant 300 trees a day to aid government achieve its aim of planting more trees.
“We are not slaves, the government should pay us. Imagine people coming from far distances to work. We are suffering from hunger and facing humiliation from our landlords. We need to pay schools fees as well.”
They warned that if their stipends are not paid them, they would sabotage the government’s Green Ghana Project.
