Payment of allowances is not just to fulfill promises; it’s to support the ‘needy’ – Akosua Manu

Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the National Youth Authority (NYA), Akosua Manu, has said payment of allowances to teacher trainees in the country is a commitment that the Akufo-Addo government is keeping.

She said the payment is not just to fulfill a campaign promise. Rather, it is provided based on the feedback on the impact of the people who depend on it.

Speaking on the New Day show on TV3 with Johnnie Hughes on Thursday April 21 while commenting on the released of over ¢67 million to Colleges of Education for the feeding of the teacher trainees, she said “It is easy to dismiss [the payment of allowance] on the basis of, it is not necessary to give somebody a stipend or allowances. But often, you would realize that the background to the people that go into these teacher training, some of them are left without option that this is an alternative and not necessarily you have the passion for it.

“Let us not forget that even allowances became quite a debate leading up to the election where for us, even for nurses, a promise was made that we will make sure that we meet that demand. It is not because of a promise we want to keep per say, it is feedback on the impact of those things on the people that benefit from it.”

The Government of Ghana on Wednesday April 20, released an amount of ¢67million to Colleges of Education in Ghana.

This comes after the National Conference of Principals of Colleges of Education – Ghana (PRINCOF) said it could nit continue feeding the trainees due to huge debts owed by the government.

Addressing a press conference in Accra on Wednesday April 20, Education Minister Dr Adutwum said “I am very happy to inform you that government has released ¢67, 942, 652 to Colleges of Education. I know you may have read media reports, there were many calls on us to respond to concerns of PRINCOF. We want to let the country know that the President of the Republic, the Finance Minister and all those who have work hard to ensure various promises made to Colleges of Education are carried through, have delivered on their promise. That is why this amount has been released to Colleges of Education.”

The Executive Secretary of PRINCOF, Dr. Harriet Naki Amui in an earlier letter dated Tuesday, April 19, 2022 sent to the Minister of Education directed that teacher trainees must start to fund their own feeding from May 8, if funds are not made available to them.

This directive has been necessitated in response to the inability of Colleges of Education to make payments for food items supplied to them.

The statement said food suppliers continued delivering supplies to these Colleges of Education for months without payment but they have finally withdrawn their services till they receive the monies owed them.

“Most Colleges now have food items that can last only one week if students are to be provided with three (3) meals a day,” PRINCOF said.

The PRINCOF statement therefore made the following four proposals which take effect on April 23.

“Trainee teachers will be provided with two meals, breakfast and supper only for one week, from April 23 to April 30, 2022, that, Trainee teachers from May 1 to May 8, 2022 shall be given lunch only, that, after May 8, trainee teachers would be asked to provide their own meals until their feeding allowances have been paid and finally, “food vendors will be encouraged to increase the quantity of daily meals they cook for sale to students”.

The statement added that “all these measures are meant to ensure that there is no disruption of the academic calendar”.

Source: 3news.com|Ghana