Kumasi, April 16, GNA - The Social Affairs Services Agency, a non-governmental organization (NGO), has proposed the setting up of a multi-sector body to study, brainstorm and find a lasting solution to "Kayayei" practice (female porters). It said the menace threatens the total development of women, especially those living in the northern part of Ghana, as the practice deprived them of quality education, parental control and also exposed them to danger with their attendant consequences.

This was contained in a statement signed by Mr. Tony Barfour Tutu, Executive Director of the NGO and issued in Kumasi on Wednesday. "While the mass movement of female porters deprive the north of much needed hands for agricultural production which is their main source of livelihood "kayayei" also contributes to congestion leading to population explosion in the areas where they migrate to", it said. The statement appealed to parents to shun the practice of turning their wards into bread winners at tender age and also urged traditional rulers, especially in the north, to strive to review outmoded customs, beliefs and practices that are discriminatory to women and which at times force them to migrate.