Men in Salaga can’t find women to marry; all the women have moved to Accra – MP

• Posted on February 6, 2014
• by Nana Kwesi Coomson
• Comment

The Member of Parliament for Salaga South Constituency, Alhaji Ibrahim Dey Abubakari says all the young women in Salaga South have migrated to Accra to become ‘Kayayei’ [head porters] so men in the area find it difficult to get young women to marry.

According to him, many young men in the area are ready for marriage but they cannot find suitors “all the young women have moved from the area to seek greener pastures in Accra and other parts of the country.”

The Salaga South MP was contributing to a statement in Parliament by the MP for Oforikrom, Elizabeth Agyemang about the state of ‘kayayei’ in the country.

Alhaji Abubakari explained that the young girls made a choice between marrying the young men under harsh economic conditions and moving to Accra where they could get potable water and get easy jobs.

“In fact I can tell you that when you go there right now all the girls have migrated to the south and it’s very difficult for the young men to marry right now” he stressed.

The MP believes most of the girls migrate to urban centers also because there are no basic social amenities in the area and the worse of it is that, in Salaga, they trek several kilometers to struggle with pigs over water.

But the MP for Oforikrom, Elizabeth Agyemang who initiated the discussion about ‘kayayei’, was concerned about the rate at which young girls between ages 10 and 12 migrate to Accra for work.

She therefore called for a swift government intervention to stem the trend, which she described as “frightening”.

The Speaker of Parliament, Edward Doe Adjaho has therefore summoned the Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection, Nana Oye Lithur, to brief Parliament on steps being taken by the Ministry to deal with the issue of migration of females from the northern Ghana to Accra and Kumasi for work.

-Abednego Asante Asiedu