NDC won’t exploit 'Kayayeis' for elections like NPP - Prof Opoku-Agyemang

Vice Presidential candidate of the opposition National Democratic Congress has said that the party will not take undue advantage of head porters commonly referred to as Kayayeis and dump them as it was done by the then opposition New Patriotic Party in 2016.

“We won’t use them as bait for elections; we think of every woman, Kayayeis are also women. Don’t generalize because you know the party that used Kayayeis as bait”, Prof Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang said this in an interview with Adehyie FM in Kumasi.

The Vice Presidential candidate made this comment in response to the failed promises made by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to build hostels for all kayayeis who are mostly found in the southern parts of the country struggling to make a living under unfavourable weather condition.

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in his 2016 campaign, promised to build hostel facilities for kayayeis in an attempt to protect and provide shelter for them.

However, after the NPP took power in 2017 to date, not a single hostel has been provided for these venerable who often sleep in makeshift structures under deplorable conditions.

Meanwhile, the government has said that some of them have been enrolled in school while others are learning vocations after which they would be properly integrated into society

But the former Minister of Education indicated that NDC unlike the NPP will safeguard everyone who works without protection.

“We will think of all labourers, we will think of all people who work without protection”, she told Daakyehene the host of the show.

“The Next NDC government will provide companies, quality education and equal opportunities back in their home towns”, Prof Jane Opoku noted.