Government, IMF, accommodation facility for Kayayei in the Offing

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Government of Ghana through the Ministry of Youth and Sports are set to build an ultra-modern accommodation facility for female head porters in Accra.

This was discussed when the IMF country representative to Ghana, Dr Albert Touna Mama, paid a courtesy call on the deputy Minister for Youth and Sports, Hon. Curtis Perry Okudzeto at the Ministry on Friday, May 10, 2019.

According to Dr. Albert Touna Mama, as part of the social responsibility of the IMF, it is customary that when the IMF boss visits a country as she did in Ghana last year, she picks a charity she wants to support. The IMF local office in Ghana has therefore decided to build a center in Accra for female head porters especially when the IMF boss met and interacted with traders in Agbogbloshie market and Kayayei during her visit to Ghana.

The facility when completed will not only provide accommodation to Kayayei but also help them to learn a skill so they can move out of the streets permanently.

In response to the proposal by IMF Country Representative, the Deputy Minister, lauded the IMF for coming on board to support female head porters in Ghana, indicating that providing accommodation to them is an initiative that has already been captured in the manifesto of Government and so establishing one with support from the IMF is something Government will gladly want to be involved in.

“Is exciting to note that the IMF is stepping out of the financial sector and entering into the social space and we are happy to be a beneficiary of this move. The focus of Government is to reduce the disparities between the rural and urban areas, that is why Government has decided to execute the one village one dam especially in the north where the women usually migrate from. When this is done, we guarantee that there will be farming all year round reducing the tendency of moving down south during the dry season. More so, Government has created a development Authority for the Northern belt to create more opportunities plus the roll out of the one district-one factory initiative, however all these measures will take time, that is why we welcome your intervention of providing accommodation and a training centers for Kayayei whilst we roll out more measures to reduce the Kayayei phenomenon ” the deputy Minister said.

Present at the meeting was the Chief Executive Officer of the National Youth Authority, Mr. Emmanuel Sin-nyet Asigri and Chief Director of the Ministry of Youth and Sports, Mr. Frank Quist.