Two armed robbers attacked the leader of the members of the women saving groups at the Kajelo community in the Kassena-Nankana West District, Upper East Region, and took away GH? 3,000.00 and other items.
The alleged robbers identified as Jerry Bavesam and John Yambatua entered the house of Mrs Elizabeth Asebuga, on August 14 with a gun, and took away the money and other items.
Mrs Asebuga shouted for help leading to the arrest of Bavesam, but Yambatua manage to escape with the box containing the money.
Bavesam was handed over to the police and processed for the Navrongo Magistrate Court.
Prosecuting Chief Inspector Emmanuel Asampana, said efforts are being made to arrest Yambatua.
The Court Presided by Madam Comfort Apalayine, asked the police to expedite action to arrest the second accused.
Organisation for Indigenous Initiatives and Sustainability (ORGIIS), an NGO with support from CARE Ghana, SNV, a Netherland based Organisation and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), have built the capacity of 150 groups of Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLA) made up of 4,269 women .
The VSLA is a group of people who save together and take small loans from their earnings.
The activities of the group run in cycles of one year, after which the accumulated savings and the loan profits are distributed back to members.
The purpose of the VSLA is to provide simple savings and loan facilities in a community that does not have easy access to formal financial services.
The Regional Director of EPA, Mr Asher Nkegbe, who expressed unhappiness about the robbery called on the Attorney General Department and the judiciary system to expedite action on the matter and to ensure that the culprits are brought to book to serve as a deterrent to others.
Mr Julius Awaregya, the Coordinator of ORGIIS, expressed fears that the action of the armed robbers was likely to discourage the remaining VSLAs groups from making contributions towards the fund.
He said the rationale behind the VSLAs was to empower the women groups to undertake small scale businesses to support their families particularly their children’s education and welfare.
The Coordinator said the situation might discourage development partners from supporting the women groups in the area.
He noted that since the intervention of the Scheme in the area, majority of the women groups had contributed significantly to the improvement of the livelihoods of their families.
In solidarity with their colleagues, about 1,015 members of the women saving groups matched to the magistrate court during the sitting with placards seeking for quick and fair justice from the judiciary.
