By Godwill Arthur-Mensah
Accra, May 22, GNA – The Vice President and Flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, has commissioned ultra-modern hostel facilities for female head porters, popularly known as ‘Kayayie’ to provide them with decent and dignified accommodation.
The multi-purpose facilities are in Madina and Ashaiman in the Greater Accra Region, fulfilling a promise made by Dr Bawumia, on behalf of government in 2019, during a visit to their base in Agbogbloshie.
Accompanying the accommodation facilities was a skills and training programme to empower head porters with entrepreneurial skills to improve their socio-economic wellbeing.
The initiative is a collaborative effort between government agencies, the private sector and civil society organisations.
The Vice President, speaking at the inauguration of the hostels at the Madina Social Centre in Accra, said the Government had gone beyond the initial promise to a step further of empowering marginalised young women in the country.
Dr Bawumia expressed delight at the commissioning of the hostels aimed at addressing the plight of the marginalised girls, and offering them transitional job pathways, to enhance their socio-economic status.
“I am honoured to be part of this initiative dedicated to empowering head porters, offering transitional job pathways, and enhancing their socio-economic status. It is a cause close to my heart as it addresses the plight of a marginalised segment of our society,’ Dr Bawumia said.
“This noble endeavour resonates profoundly with the core values of our mission, as it squarely addresses the pressing needs of a marginalized segment of our society that has long been relegated to the shadows of neglect and indifference.”
The NPP Flagbearer noted that statistics showed that there were more than 100,000 head porters in Ghana.
“They endured unimaginable hardships such as lack of shelter, inadequate medical care, and harassment in urban centres on a daily basis, which required urgent attention.
“From the harsh realities of homelessness to the glaring deficiencies in access to adequate health care and the pervasive scourge of urban harassment, their plight stands as a stark testament to the moral imperative of urgent intervention to uplift and transform their lives,” the Vice President said.
Dr Bawumia noted that government’s concern was not only to provide decent accommodation to the head porters, but to also create a pathway which will empower them to be self-employed, so that they would not have to go back to the streets, hence, the establishment of the Kayayei Empowerment Programme.
The programme, Dr Bawumia noted, had been meticulously conceived and crafted to provide holistic and sustainable economic empowerment to “these resilient young women.”
“This multi-faceted programme is characterised by a rigorous and exhaustive recruitment process, culminating in the selection of initial training cohorts comprising 5,000 head porters. Over the span of three weeks, participants will be immersed in a transformative learning experience, encompassing essential modules such as baking and beading, supplemented by invaluable soft skills training in personal health care, financial management, and entrepreneurial acumen.”
“Crucially, the provision of post-training support and implementation of a track and trace model, serves as the linchpin of the program’s efficacy, with participants receiving starter packs tailored
to facilitate their seamless integration into new economic opportunities and further ensure that beneficiaries do not return to being head porters,” Dr Bawumia added.
In addition to the programmes on offer, Dr Bawumia also revealed that discussions with Aayalolo and Metro Mass are ongoing, for the two agencies to also train some of the Kayayei in driving.
The government also intended to build two more facilities to the two newly commissioned facilities in Madina and Ashaiman.
Each facility is equipped with 300 beds, training rooms, pantries, kitchen, a clinic, washrooms, fire extinguishers, CCTV and security and food shed.
Dr Bawumia thanked several government agencies, which forged strategic and collaborative partnerships with private enterprises and civil society organizations, to make the project possible.
The government agencies which collaborated are Ghana Enterprises Agency (GEA), National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Programme (NEIP), Youth Employment Agency (YEA), Council for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (CTVET), Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund), Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET), District Assemblies Common Fund (DACF),
Ghana Gas and BOST, as well as well as the Father Campbell Foundation and BEST.
The leadership of the Kayayei girls, who turned up in their numbers, symbolically with their head pans, expressed profound gratitude to Dr Bawumia and the government for the intervention.
GNA