Residents of Tema Newtown feel marginalized Residents of Tema Newtown feel marginalized

By Alexander Nyarko Yeboah, GNA   

Tema Feb. 28, GNA - Residents of Tema Newtown have expressed frustration and anger at their poor and unsavory living conditions in the midst of a booming  national maritime, industrial and service hub.

They have therefore made a passionate appeal to the Tema Metropolitan Assembly (TMA) to help their youth secure jobs in the many industries which are sited on their traditional land to better their lot.

The residents who spoke with much passion, wondered why most of the industries in Ghana were sited in Tema yet the youth of Tema Newtown idle about uneducated and hopeless.

They made this known during a Town Hall meeting organized by the TMA to interact with residents and take their views on how local governance was served to them.

Mr. Ishmael Ashitey, an indigene of Tema Newtown, observed that Tema was their home and they were surrounded by many industries, “But when it comes to employing people, they always go for people who were not from Tema.”

He claimed that in their own locality, they did not get the jobs if they went out in search for them, because “they always claim we are not highly educated, but it is not everybody who could sit in the office because jobs like security did not need high qualifications.”

He observed that there were a lot of Gas who were highly educated now and could be directors in these companies so that they could consider their kinsmen when they came looking for jobs.

He said because of that situation, they were not able to educate their children, a situation that would make the children grow to suffer the same fate they were enduring.

He said he once worked at Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA) and had seen persons form other ethnic groupings in Ghana becoming directors of the authority, “And in all these cases, the people made sure they recruited people from their ethnic areas into the industry.”

Prince Ashitey Amarh, also a native of the town, lamented how there were no scholarships for the people of Tema Newtown to further their education in order to take advantage of the various jobs within the Tema Community.

He also believed that government institutions within the Metropolis should give a quota to persons who had gone to school and wished to enter into the civil service, security agencies as well as other organs of the state.

In a reaction, the Paramount Chief of Tema, Nii Adjei Kraku II, informed that his outfit had over the years helped many of his people to be employed in the industries and that his people were not completely left out in the allocation of jobs.

He believed they needed to work hard to retain the jobs they get in order to reach the managerial peak of those industries which would have a rippling effect on the locality.

The Metropolitan Chief Executive (MCE) of Tema, Mr. Felix Mensah Nii Annang-La, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) after the programme, informed that anybody who established an industry would be looking for qualified persons first for senior positions before looking for labourers which may not require certificates.

He informed that with reference to the Port Expansion project, he said MPS was looking for people to handle sophisticated equipment after which they may need forklift operators, security men, clerks, etc. which will not need high qualifications.

He observed that most of the industries were currently doing expansion works and with time most of them would need hands to work with and his outfit would ensure that the people of Tema Newtown were considered.

GNA

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