Mr Alhassan Mumuni, Member of Parliament (MP) for Salaga North has advised parents in the north to stop the habit of encouraging their girls to migrate to the south for non-existent jobs to end up as head porters.

He said the girl-child had a better role to play in the society rather than being engaged as a head porter, popularly known as Kayayo, in the cities of Accra, Kumasi and Takoradi.

He said parents should stop pushing their wards to migrate from the north to the south to engage in such degrading jobs but rather educate their wards with the little resources at their disposal to break the circle of poverty in their communities.

The MP, who was speaking at the 57th Independence Day celebration in Binjai, a community near Salaga said parents should not think of their immediate remittance in the form of clothing and shoes, which the girls always brought to them out of their meagre earnings as porters.

It is disheartening to learn that a recent study by the Gender and Social Protection Ministry indicated that our region is leading in the Kayayee business. This is a worrying trend, which needed to be addressed, he said.

Pupils from some eleven basic and senior high schools, farmers, seamstresses, workers of the Volta River Authority and traders took part in the march past, where the MP took the salute.

He said “our culture and religion frowns on subjecting girls to go through difficult tasks and most of these girls go dehumanising ordeals including sexual abuses among others.

Mr Mumuni said to salvage the falling standards of education an endowment fund would soon be set up to support brilliant and less privileged students.

As part of measures to unearth sports talents in the area, he presented a trophy, sets of jerseys and footballs to support the inter schools competition in the constituency.