Parliament summons Gender Minister
The Second Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Mr Ebo Barton Odro, has summoned the Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection to the House to state what steps are being taken to deal with the problem of female head porters, popularly known as “kayayei.”
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He issued the summons after the Member of Parliament for Oforikrom, Ms Elizabeth Agyeman, had made a statement on the plight of head porters in the country’s major cities.
The statement drew comments from members on both sides of the House, who expressed the view that measures needed to be instituted to address the phenomenon.
Ms Agyeman said at Oforikrom alone, there were 9,600 of the young female head porters “and if the figure is anything to go by, then we can imagine the number in other towns and cities.”
Most of the young girls, she said, migrated in search of better opportunities, while others undertook the adventure due to poverty, family breakdown, forced marriage, peer pressure and the desire to acquire household items as part of the preparation towards marriage.
A very sad aspect of the kayayei phenomenon, according to her, was the involvement of children aged seven to 12 and who, due to the business they were engaged in, were not in school.
“It is very disturbing to see girls below the age of 10 carry such heavy loads on their heads which many adults will not even dare to carry,” she said.
Ms Agyeman said after going through such torment during the day, the girls met their worst nightmares during the night. While some of them could afford to pay GH¢2 to sleep in small kiosks, those who could not afford were left with no choice but to sleep in the open, under market sheds and on the veranda of shops.
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Not only were the girls exposed to mosquitoes, she said, but they were also at the mercy of some unscrupulous male harassers who robbed them of their monies and raped them as well.
Most of the rape cases, she said, resulted in pregnancies and related problems.
She called for support for the efforts of Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) to address the problem faced by the porters.
Ms Agyeman also urged the ministries of Water Resources, Works and Housing, Education, Gender and Social Protection, Local Government and Rural Development to form an emergency committee to look into the fundamental causes of the migration and put in urgent measures to arrest the situation.
The member for Nadowli Kaleo, Mr Alban Bagbin, said deprivation in the north was responsible for the phenomenon and said whatever measures put in place must address the issues of poverty and lack of infrastructure.
He traced the history of deprivation in the north and said the colonial administration ensured that it served as a “resevoir” for cheap labour.
He said it was unfortunate that decades after independence not much investment had been made in the area to address the problem of poverty and added that the nation was capable of solving the problem around.
The member for Atwima Mponua, Mr Isaac Asiamah (NPP), noted that in the 1970s when mechanised farming was promoted in the north, the problem did not exist.
He called for state-sponsored agricultural schemes for the north, which would provide jobs for the unemployed youth in the area.