8,000 'Kayayei' in Accra, Kumasi to benefit from COVID-19 Private Sector project

The Ghana COVID-19 Private Sector Fund, has announced it will feed some 8,000 head porters (Kayayei) in Accra and Kumasi.

The move comes as a response to government’s call on the private sector to support the fight against the novel Coronavirus pandemic.

A statement signed by a Trustee of the Fund, Senyo Hosi, and sighted by GhanaWeb explained the project will seek to feed 6,000 porters in the Greater Accra region and 2,000 in the Ashanti region. In all, 8,000 head-porters will be fed daily for a 12-day period.

The project which is dubbed; “FEED-A-KAYAYO” will take effective from today April 1, 2020 to April 12, 2020 and may however be extended if required.

“The project aims to provide a meal a day to head-porters at various locations in areas impacted by the directive to restrict movements. The feeding arrangements are being organized in conjunction with the leaders of various head-porter groups. The meals will be provided by existing caterers of the Ghana School Feeding Programme,” the statement read.

“We acknowledge the immense contributions by Julie Essiam (Commissioner, GRA), Mr. Dan Sackey (MD, Ecobank) and KPMG towards the conceptualization and structuring of this project. We are also proud and grateful to the men and women who have volunteered in these difficult times to assist with the organization and deployment of the project,” it added.

Ghana COVID-19 Private Sector Fund is therefore urging all citizens, corporate and public institutions to donate at least GHS5 to the “FEED-A-KAYAYO-A-DAY” project.

Recently, businesses and firms in the Private Sector took the initiative to establish the Ghana Private Sector ‘COVID-19 Fund’ as part of efforts to partly assist and finance government interventions in the fight against the novel Coronavirus outbreak.

The rationale behind the creation of the fund, according to the promoters, is to bridge the gap of government’s reported revenue targets, it’s likely to miss, due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

Meanwhile, over 30 'Kayayei' women including children in two trucks en route the Northern Region were impounded at the checkpoint of a COVID- 19 joint security at Duampompo in the Ejisu-Juaben Municipality in the Ashanti Region.

The driver had covered the trucks with tarpaulins to try and outsmart the security personnel stationed at the various checkpoints.

Passengers on board the vehicles were mostly head porters who were travelling to the North East Region with their children.

According to these women, when they heard of the lockdown, they decided to go to their hometowns because they have nowhere to sleep in the city.

Read the full statement below: