Minister for Inner Cities and Zongo Development, Alhaji Abubakar Boniface
The Columbian Embassy has made known its preparedness to offer technical assistance to the Ministry of Inner City and Zongo Development to economically empower women in the Zongo areas of the country.
The Ambassador to Ghana Madam Claudia Turbay Quintero announced this to when officials of the Ministry led by the Minister Alhaji Abubakar Saddique Boniface paid a working visit to the embassy in Accra.
The technical assistance according to the Ambassador will be areas like women empowerment, education and livelihood empowerment.
Madam Quitero interacting with the Minister expressed her passion for the empowerment of women.
She explained that everywhere in the world women are in the majority and empowering them means development.
She promised to work together with the Minister to have this feat achieved as part of the mandate of the Ministry established by the president Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and his New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration.
She explained that in Columbia there is a Ministry like that of the Zong Ministry called the Family Welfare Institute which registers people below the poverty line and create opportunities for their development.
She was quick to add that her government is ever ready to share its experiences with the Ghanaians counterpart.
She gave an overview of the programme and called on the Minister to try and replicate the system as part of the workings of his Ministry's mandate to empower in Zongo areas and inner city dweller in the country.
She told the Minister the project if replicate in the country will help deal with the myriad of problems confronting Muslim women in the country.
She said the programme will registered and personally identified families and empowers them to jump out of the poverty line.
She minces no words to tell the Minister to explore the area as she is motivated by the Minister being a staunch Muslim politician.
‘’We would love to work with your government and handed a working document for the perusal of the Ministry."
The Minister who is also the Member of Parliament (MP) for Madina in the Greater Accra region says the core areas for the operations of the Ministry will be education, security, sanitation, infrastructure and women empowerment.
He said Zongo and inner city areas are growing fast in the Greater Accra Region because it is the cheapest way to get accommodation in the city.
It has over the years allegedly become a hub for criminals because securities in these areas have been taken for granted because the standards of livelihood are not the best.
According to him, life expectancy in these areas are not the same as life expectancy in the middle class areas of the city hence the need to transform the area.
Even though ninety percent of people who live in Zongo are Muslims, Ghana has had the opportunity for Muslims and Christians to co-exist.
He said Ghana is the only country in the world where a church shares a border with a Mosque.
