Minister Launches Banking Programme

Mrs Gladys Asmah, Minister of Women and Children's Affairs, on Tuesday said banks responsible for the disbursement of government loans are not supposed to take commitment fees from beneficiaries.

There is no commitment fee attached to such loans because the funds are not from the banks' coffers, she said.

Mrs. Asmah was speaking at the launch of the Brong-Ahafo Regional Project of the Women's Development Fund (WDF) in Berekum.

The WDF project, launched in December 2001 by President Kufuor, with 21 billion cedis as the seed money, is aimed at empowering women economically.

Mrs. Asmah said each region would be given 500 million cedis to be disbursed as loans to beneficiaries, with farmers being considered first to enable them to acquire the necessary inputs for the planting seasons.

Mrs. Asmah explained that the fund was "solely set up for women because they shoulder a lot of burden in child upbringing".

Many children look up to their mothers as their first point of call for sustenance, care and redress, she added.

The Minister noted that majority of single parent families were led by women, most of whom were illiterate or semi-literate.

The absence of any meaningful economic base for such women implies that their children and dependants also suffer the same or worse deprivation, thereby leading to a multiplied syndrome of poverty, she said.

Mrs. Asmah attributed the current alarming rate of negative social habits such as drug abuse, prostitution, truancy, violence to the poor and low economic conditions of their mothers.

Mrs. Asmah said the launch of the fund by the government was, therefore, an appropriate strategy to begin the poverty reduction process through the economic empowerment of women to promote the overall development of society.

The fund would also address the needs of fishmongers and women who evacuate food items to the urban areas, as well as petty traders.

Mrs. Asmah said her Ministry had targeted 1,000 women in each region for assistance in farming in the initial operation of the fund, whilst another 10,000 had also been earmarked for gari processing throughout the country.

Mrs. Asmah said the Ministry had secured 200 gari processing machines and Brong Ahafo, being the largest cassava producer, would have 35 of them.

She added that a group of 50 women should have one machine to work with and each woman would also receive a 500,000 cedis loan package to purchase cassava for processing into gari.

Mr. Ernest Akubuor Debrah, Brong-Ahafo Regional Minister, reiterated the need for Ghanaians to be disciplined in all aspects of life.

He said the government was making strenuous efforts to relieve the people of hardships but that could only be realised if acts of indiscipline such as indiscriminate and uncontrollable bush burning were stopped.

We must help ourselves by complementing the government's efforts, the Minister added.

Captain Nkrabeah Effah-Darteh (rtd), Deputy Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, said the establishment of the Ministry of Women and Children's Affairs, among others, was to avoid a situation where a "politically clothed" women's NGO would arrogate to itself the power and role of organising women and championing their cause in the country.

He said the fund was not for members of any political party but for every Ghanaian woman.