Relief items not distributed on partisan lines — Gender Ministry

The Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection has debunked claims by the Member of Parliament for Klottey Korley, Dr Zanetor Agyeman-Rawlings that food and other relief items are being distributed on partisan lines to head porters, kayayei.

A statement signed by the Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection, Mrs Cynthia Mamle Morrison reiterated the ministry’s impartial distribution of food and relief items to the kayayei.

“The MP’s allegation that people are being asked to show party cards ostensibly by officials distributing government food relief items is a total fabrication.”

“In fact, the distribution of the food items to the kayayei and the vulnerable is being done by the officials of the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection (MoGCSP) in collaboration with the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA), the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) and the Fifth Infantry Battalion of the Ghana Armed Forces,” it said.

Klottey Korle MP

While providing food for some head porters in Accra, Dr Agyeman-Rawlings alleged that the government was politicising the distribution of relief efforts to vulnerable persons.

She said there were reports of state agents demanding evidence of party affiliation before giving out the food.

“This is a humanitarian crisis, women and children are hungry. They are locked down because it’s not their fault the virus is in Ghana. People are literally being asked to show evidence of their party membership before being given food.

“This is not acceptable [and] this is very sad [because] the virus does not show whether you are NDC or NPP before it infects you,” Dr Agyeman-Rawlings alleged.

Ministry

But in its statement rebutting the allegations, the Ministry further explained that there had been equitable distribution of food to kayayei at both the Tema Station and Old Fadama contrary to the claims by the Klottey Korley legislator.

“Specifically, contrary to the claim that Kayayei around the Tema Station and Old Fadama are not being fed, the ministry’s monitoring system shows that on the average 5,000 packs of food are distributed to kayayei and other vulnerable persons from that vicinity daily. The MP’s claims are therefore false and unfounded,” it stated.

It said due to the challenges in maintaining the social distance protocols, the food distribution exercise was moved to the ministry’s premises and later to the Afua Sutherland Children’s Park. “On each occasion that the venue for distribution changes, the beneficiaries are informed and have reported at the new venues for their share of the food,” it said.

AMA

In a related development, the AMA had also described the allegations by Dr Agyeman-Rawlings as most unfortunate.

It said although the government had welcomed efforts by all to support the effort to lessen the effects of the lockdown on the vulnerable, “misinformation and attempts to politicise such efforts should not be countenanced.”

A statement signed by its Chief Executive, Mr Mohammed A. Sowah, said.

“This is a time when the nation and the world at large is battling a pandemic and unity of purpose with focus is expected of all in leadership,” it stated.