The New Patriotic Party (NPP) Member of Parliament (MP) for the Prestea Huni-valley Constituency, Hon. Mrs. Barbara Oteng-Gyasi, has presented ten tricycles to the farmers cooperatives and youth associations as part of her economic empowerment agenda in the area.
The initiative seeks to reduce unemployment, promote entrepreneurship, among the youth whiles providing timely and convenient means of transport for farmers in the various communities in the Constituency.
The MP who doubles as Minister for Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts, presented five tricycles each popularly known as ‘Aboboyaa’ and 'Pragya' to the farmers cooperatives and youth groups respectively at a brief ceremony held at the forecourt of the Prestea Huni-Valley Municipal Assembly at Bogoso.
Mrs. Oteng-Gyasi disclosed to Daniel Kaku of GhanaWeb after the ceremony that the gesture was in response to a call from the heads of the associations to aid in adding value to their lives.
She noted that transportation plays an important role in the distribution of agricultural products hence the provision of the Aboboyaa to ease the challenges farmers encounter and also help improve their income.
The legislator believes the tricycles will go a long way to help farmers cart farm input and produce to their destinations on time to prevent spoilage and wastage and to add value to crops that they produce to ensure sustenance of the constituency’s agriculture system.
The Minister emphasized that the 'Pragya' will also provide opportunities to the creation of entrepreneurs to reduce unemployment and ensure financial independence among the teeming youth and to provide significant leverage for her existing investments in other sectors of the economy.
She assured that initial beneficiaries would be given a flexible repayment scheme and urged those who are yet to be registered to remain calm for the second batch of presentation adding that no one would be discriminated since the selection is non-partisan based.
Mrs. Oteng-Gyasi, therefore, took the opportunity to highlight some achievements which are geared towards the provision of core skilled training, including her annual donation of sewing machines and hair dryers to graduating seamstress and hair dressers.
Other achievements include, Obaapa Micro Loan Scheme which falls under her foundation ‘Wassa Hemaa’ which is tailored at empowering women within the Constituency by extending small loans and other basic financial assistance to women that do not have access to capital.
Mr francis Asmah, the Presiding Member (PM) of the Prestea Huni-Valley Municipal Assembly recieved the tricycles on behalf of the groups and lauded the effort of the MP for all the good measures put in place to improve the standard of living of constituents.