Workers under the Nation Builders Corps (NABCo) are set to embark on a nationwide demonstration on April 12, over unpaid allowances.
The aggrieved beneficiaries say the non-payment of their monthly allowance of GHc700 had made life unbearable for them.
The planned demonstration, announced by the Coalition of NABCO Trainees in communiqué, follows months of agitation over the delayed payment of the allowances.
The programme, which currently employs some 99,000 youth, is said to be facing funding challenges.
In a communiqué dated April 6, 2019, the leadership of the beneficiaries called on its members to “tighten” their plans to demonstrate in order to “drum up support over unpaid stipends.”
According to the Coalition, their action is necessitated by the government’s inability to pay them their monthly allowance “per the agreement of the engagement letter signed by all trainees.”
The Coalition further expressed anger over what they say is “inconsistent and fluctuated” manner of payments of Arrears due to trainees, recollecting instances where the Secretariat slashed and partially paid arrears to trainees with others not received a dime since the inception of the programme.
“We want the programme to run smoothly with regular payment and not paying in bits. We go through a lot and cannot endure any longer,” the group said.
But the Coordinator of NABCo, Dr. Ibrahim Anyars, has refuted the claims of the aggrieved recruits, saying all those who provided and updated their relevant data, have been paid.
“Ninety-four thousand people have been paid. How did we get that done? Through the media? Definitely not. They know what to do if they are true NABCo trainees, to get their pay issues and other problems that they have, resolved.
“So I am very upset about what they are seeking to gain from this needless attention because it doesn’t make sense to me,” he said in a radio interview.
