YEA staff demand 10 months unpaid salaries
About 300 staff of the Youth Employment Agency (YEA) nationwide are demanding the immediate release of ten months of unpaid salaries, accusing the agency of neglect and deliberate frustration.
Addressing a press conference in Kumasi on Wednesday, 8 October, the affected workers appealed to President John Dramani Mahama to intervene to prevent further hardship.
“Mr President, please hear our cry and save us and our families from further starvation,” said the group’s convener, Osei Yaw Akoto.
The aggrieved staff explained that they were permanently employed in November 2024 after receiving clearance from the Public Service Commission and the Ministry of Finance. However, despite assuming duty on 1 December 2024, they claim they have not received any salaries since.
They noted that most of them had served as contract staff with the agency for between two and eight years before their appointments were regularised.
According to the group, after CEO Malik Basintale assumed office, he acknowledged in a February 2025 Zoom meeting that their mechanisation was valid but stated that an audit would be conducted to address concerns about a few unqualified employees.
The audit, they said, was completed in March 2025, but no official communication has since been issued. Several petitions to management, including one through their lawyer in June 2025, have also gone unanswered.
“We are starving,” the convener stressed, adding that the prolonged salary arrears have left many families in dire hardship. Some workers, he said, are unable to feed their families, pay school fees, or sustain their marriages.
He also cited cases of colleagues suffering strokes and one worker nearly attempting suicide due to the situation.
The group described the development as a human rights issue and accused YEA management of deliberately frustrating them out of their jobs.
They are demanding immediate payment of all outstanding arrears and a clear commitment from the agency to regularise their status.
