The alliance in a statement to mark Mothers’ Day called for the establishing of free day care centres at markets to ease the pressure on kayayei and teen mothers in need.

It also urged government to extend the school feeding to cater for them.

The AWMA in the statement decried the plight of Kayayeis, also known as head porters, and their “often malnourished children” who are exposed to harsh conditions whilst with their working mothers.

The alliance noted that “free day care and feeding facilities for these child mothers will ease their burden and provide a safe haven for their babies. Whilst we wait for a workable policy to deal with the kayayei situation and teenage pregnancy in general.

“If Ghana is to eradicate maternal and under-five mortality, these interventions are critical,” the statement noted further.

Find below the full statement

Build day care centres at markets  and make it free for teen mothers and extend school feeding to same:

The Alliance for Women in Media Africa, (AWMA), will like to use the occasion of Mothers day to highlight the plight of teenage mothers especially those without support who are struggling.

The situation of the kaayayeis (head porters) is most deplorable. They often have to carry huge loads whilst carrying their often malnourished children. For several hours in the day these babies and toddlers are exposed to the vagaries of extreme weather.

Free day care and feeding facilities for these child mothers will ease their burden and provide a safe haven for their babies. Whilst we wait for a workable policy to deal with the kayayei situation and teenage pregnancy in general.

If Ghana is to eradicate maternal and under-five mortality, these interventions are critical.

We will also like to say congratulations to all mothers for the sacrifices they make and continue to make to raise the nation.

signed:

Shamima Muslim Alhassan.

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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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In a meeting with the leadership of market women and Kayayei at the Kumasi Cultural Centre during his tour of the Ashanti Region, the market women lamented their rampant harassment by persons purporting to be task-force operatives, who demand extra tolls from them.

These demands come even after the market women have paid the requisite taxes to the Assembly as stipulated by law, the market queens noted.

This, they, said was hampering their businesses and indirectly affect consumers as the traders are compelled to increase the prices of their goods in a bid to pass on the extra costs onto the consumer.

President Akufo-Addo, in his response, condemned the extortion from the task force operatives as unacceptable and assured that, together with the Ministry of Trade and Industry, and the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly, the activities of these task-forces will be regulated and those operating illegally clamped down.

The president further thanked the market women and Kayayei for their support in the run-up to the December 2016 election, and appealed to them for their continued support throughout his tenure.

As far as Kayayei, also known as head porters are concerned, the Akufo-Addo administration’s maiden budget scrapped the tolls they were required to pay for operating in markets and other business centres.

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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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Professor Mark Adom-Asamoah said his outfit is in talks with government to make the vehicle, when produced, available to all head-porters in the country.

In a Citi News interview, he said the move was initiated after talks with the Ministry for Gender, Children and Social Protection.

Prof. Adom-Asamoah said the current way of carrying heavy loads on the head had serious health implications on the head porters, and sometimes their children whom they often carry behind them while transporting goods.

“We had contact with the Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection, Otiko Djaba, and during the discussion we realized that we need to let them have a look at the Kayayei and look at the possibility of checking things that could affect their health in terms of the work that they do. We realized that the normal push trucks that are available are too large and bulky and only suited for their male counterparts so what we did was to come up with a trolley, and the trolley will be both the push and pull trolley,” he said.

He said the project was still at its design stage and will soon be piloted. He added that the introduction of the trolley will reduce the incidence of injury among ‘kayayei.’

“We have a team of professors who have already come up with the conceptual design, and we are in the process of building one prototype which we hope will be able to help reduce the injuries and health risks of head porters.”

On suggestions that the machine will encourage more young ladies to go into the business of head-porting, Prof. Adom-Asamoah said there was not much his outfit could do in that regard, but was certain that those already in the business will be trained to carry out their activities professionally.

“There are other parts of the proposal, one aspect is retraining of the Kayayei, but whatever we do there will still be a remnant, but generally once that is the job they are doing we must first make sure that we protect them, the ministry will think of ways of retraining them.”

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By: Melvin Clottey/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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According to him, the move is not fair especially since truck pushers, sachet water sellers among other hawkers also pay similar tolls.

The Former Minister while speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show on Friday, clarified that although he was not against the ‘kayayei’ toll exemption, he thinks “they [kayayei] are not the only category [of potters] and you [Finance Minister] may be using discriminatory tax approach.”

[contextly_sidebar id=”UiW90DBjruSk0cs9j0w395SAHLHVHgWv”]The Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, while presenting the 2017 budget statement to Parliament on Thursday, disclosed that government had scrapped some taxes including the kayayei market tolls.

He also announced the downward review of some taxes and levies government considered as “nuisance.”

But Mr. Terkper, told Bernard Avle on the Citi Breakfast Show that government must extend the tax relief package to cover other potters as well.

“Is it just Kayayei or does it also cover truck pushers or if you go to the north does it cover those who are riding motorbikes, tricycles which is a form of portage? So Kayayei is just one form of portage. Is the minister saying that all these are going to be eliminated or is just the use of kayayei to gain some sympathy?”

The Former Minister added that, “There are those who carry sachet water [on their heads] and risk their lives. Many of these are compelled to pay tolls because if you go to many district assemblies, market tolls are their main source of IGF [internally generated funds], apart from the district assembly common fund. So is the central government going to provide further support at a time we are also being told that the assemblies’ common fund is going to be paved for purposes of the [free] SHS?. Are you going to look at the category of all those who are in all that group and come up with a package for them or just something catchy to gain applause,” Mr. Terkper asked.

List of taxes abolished/reviewed

Below is the list of taxes either scrapped or reviewed downwards by the Akufo-Addo government.

– The 1% Special Import Levy

– Kayayei market tolls

– 17.5% VAT/NHIL on financial services

– 17.5% VAT/NHIL on selected imported medicines that are not produced locally

– 17.5% VAT/NHIL on domestic airline tickets

– Duty on imported spare parts

– 5% VAT/NHIL on Real estate sales

– Exercise duty on petroleum List of reviewed taxes

– Corporate income tax to be progressively reduced from 25% to 20% in 2018.

– Replace 17.5% of VAT/NHIL with 3% flat rate for traders

– Tax credits and other incentives for businesses that hire young graduates from tertiary institutions

– Tax incentives for young entrepreneurs

– Reduce special petroleum tax rate from 17.5% to 15%.

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By: Godwin A. Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @AlloteyGodwin

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The Sector Minister, Madam Otiko Djaba, said the inhuman conditions the kayayei endured, indicates that Ghana was not doing great for all its people, and this must end.

[contextly_sidebar id=”TrY2hExnLtwjLIm63XU22psrX0HbsDbh”]Speaking in an interview, she stated: “The phenomenon of kayayei is a very deplorable and inhuman situation for any human being to find herself in. They’re really like human donkeys; sometimes you find a child as young as six or nine carrying loads that even an adult cannot manage.

“They sleep out there and are exposed to all kinds of diseases; they are raped and subjected to all kinds of abuses; they’re not in school and not learning any skills for sustainable employment; some end up being trafficked, like those who ended up in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.

“This we must collectively decide to include them in the Ghanaian dream.”

The children of the kayayei, female head porters and truck pushers, she said, would also be covered in the solutions,

Reliable data must be gathered for a successful programme, though there was information that there were about 50,000 victims, she said.

Madam Otiko Djaba said the series of dialogues would involve the victims, who would tell society what they wanted to do with their lives, the persons behind their migration, and the various national and international partners who would facilitate their empowerment.

“We don’t know what their aspirations are so we can’t impose our wills on them,” she said.

“Some may want to go back to school to become teachers or nurses, while others may want to learn a trade or even become footballers and actress. The opportunities are limitless, indeed.”

The Minister said those who wanted skill training could be integrated into the modules of the Youth Employment Authority, while a new module could also be created for their specific needs.

After training, she said, it was important to give them startup capital, tools and equipment to establish themselves in sustainable livelihoods, so that their training would bear fruits.

On the Government’s policy to build hostels for kayayei, she said, that was to remove them from the dangers of street life but not to create permanent homes for them in the cities.

She, therefore, appealed to churches, NGOs and other social partners to immediately create shelters to accommodate and cater for the victims, as the hostels would take some time to build.

In ending the problem from the roots, she said the Government’s implementation of the policies of One Village-One Dam; One District – One Factory; One Constituency-One Million dollars, would create jobs and provide the necessary social amenities for young people to want stay in their communities.

The causes of the migration, which were related to abuses such as forced marriages, negative cultural practices and trafficking would be tackled with the law, Madam Otiko Djaba said.

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Source: GNA

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Kayayei, an ethnic Ga word, is a trade often undertaken by thousands of young female adults who migrate from the northern Ghana to cities like Accra and Kumasi.

The practice has been in existence in Ghana for decades and children between ages 15 to 18 and adults 45 years and above, engage in what is described as a hand-to-mouth job.

Analysts have suggested the need for government to make the northern part of Ghana economically viable and habitable to minimize the migration.

But presenting the highlights of the National Democratic Congress’ (NDC) 2016 manifesto in Accra on Tuesday, President Mahama said he intends to employ to about 10,000 of the head porters to give them a decent living.

According to him, the Kayayei will be part of a new employment model under the newly established Youth Employment Agency (YEA).

Available research data indicates that some of these Kayayei work in chop-bars (local restaurants), hawk on the streets, assist market women in trading, act as shop assistants and engage in other domestic chores, sometimes menial, just to make ends meet.

Most of them are considered to be non-literate, school dropouts, or young females who have escaped from outmoded socio-cultural practices such as forced marriages and female genital mutilation (female circumcision) among others.

They live in the streets and in open places whiles engaging in menial jobs such as carrying of heavy loads on their heads.

I’ll provide free hostel facilities for Kayayei-Nana Addo

Flagbearer of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) for the 2016 general election, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, had also promised to provide free hostel accommodation for Kayayei if elected as president.

This, Nana Akufo-Addo explained, will give decent accommodation to the Kayayei and save them from sleeping under perilous living conditions.

Nana Addo’s promise is an insult to Kayayei-Mahama

Following Nana Akufo-Addo’s promise to accommodate the Kayayei, President Mahama told the NPP flagbearer to find a better way of alleviating the hardships of the head potters.

He described Nana Akufo-Addo’s promise as the “most insulting” pledge to the Kayayei.

Addressing supporters of the governing NDC at Savelugu in the Northern Region, President Mahama said the promise to provide free temporary housing for such vulnerable girls is insulting to the dignity of northern girls.

“Because you (Nana Addo) are desperate to win, you are promising free everything; I will give free healthcare to children under 18 years. It is being implemented already…He says he will give free hostels to Kayayei. That is the most insulting one.”

“So our girls should remain there and continue to carry people’s goods. If you have a sickness, you must go to the cause of the sickness; you don’t treat the symptom…So if you want to solve the problem of Kayayei, then you will do what NDC is doing. We’ve been to the South; we are registering our little sisters who are Kayayei there. We are putting them in training, we are teaching them how to be dressmakers, hairdressers, how to be able to do work with their hands, we are giving them sewing machines and other equipment and then we are bringing them back to come and settle so that they can work for themselves,” President Mahama stated.

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By: Awudu Mahama/ghelections.com/Ghana

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