BOLGA TROUBLEMAKER NOT STAFF OF NYEP (PAGE 3, DEC 4)

THE Bawku Municipal Co-ordinator of the National Youth Employment Programme, Mr Phillip Ayamga, has denied claims by Yakubu Mohammed Sadat, the 27-year-old man who was jailed 30 years by the Bolgatanga Circuit Court, that he was a staff of the programme.
Speaking in a telephone interview with the Daily Graphic from Bawku, Mr Ayamba said at no time had the NYEP engaged the convict to work on any of the modules of the programme.
“I can also confirm that he was not engaged by my predecessor. I have checked through the files in this office ever since the news broke and at no time have I come across his name under any of the modules run by the NYEP,” Mr Ayamba asserted.
He, however, conceded that the convict had been frequenting the offices of the programme in Bawku to request for forms but that did not make him a staff of the programme.
Asked how many people were working in the office, he said apart from him, there was a marketing officer currently at post.
He said three other officers, the data entry clerk, the deputy co-ordinator and a secretary who were engaged under the previous government had all stopped going to the office since the change of government.
The Bolgatanga Circuit Court sentenced Sadat to 30 years in prison after convicting him of possessing a firearm without lawful excuse.
Sadat, a Wala from the Upper West Region but resident in Bawku, was found guilty of possessing a locally-manufactured revolver by the court, presided over by Mr William Boampong.
Sergeant Raphael Azanyitigah, the police prosecutor, told the court that the convict, until his arrest, was working at the National Youth Employment Office in Bawku.