The youth in afforestation nationwide has not received their allowance since January this year.
The situation has imposed severe hardship on the beneficiaries of the government flagship programme compelling them to threaten a nationwide strike at the end of September.
The group is also worried about the changes in the status quo to begin transferring beneficiaries from their districts
The Youth in Afforestation programme was launched in 2018 as part of government’s commitment to reforestation, forest rehabilitation and forest protection activities.
The module has been fraught with myriads of challenges from the onset, notable among which is delays in the payment of their allowances.
It sometime took demonstrations and picketing to get funds released for the payment of their allowances.
Presently, the group has not been paid since January this year.
The beneficiaries also alleged that their allowances have been reduced by 400 and 200 cedis, across the three categories.
The forestry commission is yet to react to the claims by the beneficiaries as all officials contact acted decline comment.
The youth employment agency however says the youth in afforestation implementation is owned solely by the forestry commission hence they cannot speak to it.
There are about 100,000 beneficiaries of the programme across the country.
By: Peter Quoa Adattor
