Otiko affirms commitment to continue projects by predecessor

The Minister designate for Gender, Children and Social Protection, Otiko Afisah Djaba, has affirmed her commitment to the continuation of the various programs and projects that were started by her predecessor.
    
She cited some of such programs and projects as the School Feeding Program, the Livelihood Empowerment against Poverty (LEAP) and the compilation of a comprehensive database for vulnerable persons in the society to ensure proper targeting and budgeting for their support.
    
Ms. Djaba, who appeared before the Ministerial Vetting Committee of Parliament in Accra on Monday, said since governance was a continuous process, she will ensure a strengthened collaboration with all existing departments and agencies working on diverse programs to improve the lives of particularly women and children.
    
She said the Ministry also intended to widen the net by advertising in the media for the expansion of the program to other places, not only as a means to create jobs for women, but also to further enhance school enrollment, academic performance and the nutritional status of children in deprived communities.
     
On her contribution to the passage of the Affirmative Action Bill, Ms. Djaba said, she will ensure that it was quickly returned to Parliament for it to be passed into law.
     
She explained that the Affirmative Action Bill, which had been in Parliament, had delayed as a result of the dissolution of the Sixth Parliament, and for that matter the Ministry would have to look at the various comments made on it and effect the necessary correction for immediate re-submission and passage.

Ms. Otiko Afisa Djaba assured women contracted under the School Feeding Program of a swift effort by her administration if given the nod to ensure the payment of their delayed monies owed them by the Government.

He said the government intended to expand the beneficiaries of the Ghana School Feeding Program (GSFP) from the current 1.3 million to three million.

She also proposed the decoupling of the program from the District Assemblies Common Fund to ensure  regular cash flow.

Ms. Afisa Djaba said, in an answer to a question, that caterers of the school feeding program were not going to be engaged on the basis of their political affiliations.

Rather, they would be engaged based on their competence and after they had satisfied the recruitment process.

She indicated that the program, once expanded, will cater for the numerous caterers who wished to apply to participate in the program.

On the issue of initiating policies to better the lives of head porters, popularly known as kayayei, the minister designate said the government would design and develop a plan of action by building a database of kayayei nationwide in order to provide accommodation and organise skills training for them.

“We currently have over 50,000 kayayei in the country and there is no regulation in place to address their challenges. We will as started by Nana Oye Lither, to include them in the poverty alleviation project and also provide them with skills training,” she said.

On the issue of bringing the child labour menace under control, Ms. Djaba indicated that, Ghana is a signatory to treaties that frowned on child labour, adding that the enforcement of regulation and advocacy to parents to educate their children, a campaign she will lead, could help address the issue.

She added that she will also work hard towards eliminating child labour in areas where it was prevalent.
 

GBC