Nana Oye Lithur to restructure Gender Ministry

Nana Oye Lithur, Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection, has stated that her office has put forward a 21-page agenda towards restructuring the new Ministry to enable it to play its role efficiently.

She said the Ministry was poised to institute some changes and that there was an executive instrument already in place to enable it to meet set objectives.

Nana Oye Lithur was speaking in an interview with the Ghana News Agency on the sidelines of the State of the Nation address by President Mahama on the floor of Parliament on Thursday.

She said what was needed was to get the data base of the poor and vulnerable in society to be able to carry out the social protection.

She said being the first woman to head the new Ministry and with her background as a human rights lawyer she was confident that she would be able to bring some relief to the vulnerable and the poor.

Citing the Savanna Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) for an instance, Nana Lithur indicated that the Ministry would work with SADA to be able to identify and assist the vulnerable.

She also reiterated her commitment to protect the rights of Ghanaians including the rights of gays, saying the gay issue was a communication issue.

On the issue of Kayaye, the Minister noted that once SADA was in full implementation and jobs were created, it would reduce the drift of young girls from the north to the city.

She disclosed the Ministry had planned to work around the market areas where most of the Kayaye were found to identify and gather data about them so that some educational training could be organized in the short term for those who would be willing to return to the classroom.

She said some of them had finished some level of education but the support to go further was a problem.

She noted that the issue of Kayaye was a developmental problem and called on traditional rulers and religious leaders to assist in tackling the problem.