Ablekuma West MP, Mrs Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, has launched a work-pay-own-taxi scheme in her constituency.

The move is aimed at empowering the unemployed in her constituency economically.

The scheme started with 10 taxis on a 3-year payment terms.

This comes barely a month after Mrs Owusu-Ekuful, who is also the Minister of Communication, enrolled about 50 women for cosmetology training, as part of a bespoke programme to empower her constituents.

The two-year cosmetology course had been squeezed into a six-week intensive one, with trainees receiving 10 per cent theoretical and 90 per cent practical training.

Speaking to journalists after a short ceremony to launch the taxi scheme as well as handover the first batch of cars to the beneficiary drivers, Mrs Owusu-Ekuful said the scheme will go a long way to provide employment for her jobless constituents, especially the youth.

“Not everybody has skills for white-collar jobs and, so, we need to look at how we can also empower the various kinds of young people in the constituency with employable skills,” she said.

The lawmaker said per the arrangements with the coordinators of the scheme, the drivers will, after three years, own the taxis, making them financially independent while having skills that can enable them stand on their own feet.

“There is something for everyone, some will work in an office, some will do petty trading, and others are drivers who need support to also drive”, she said.
Some of the drivers who spoke to the media expressed gratitude to the MP for her extreme desire to empower her constituents through various job and skills empowerment schemes and programmes.

The beneficiaries said they were taken aback by the gesture.

“We are very happy, we didn’t expect that from the minister, but today, we realised that the minster is someone we can put our trust in,” one of the drivers said.

Another added: “I am very surprised. I thank God and the MP for giving me this opportunity. I have been seeing what she is doing in this community and she is on the right track. This is the first time she is doing such a thing and I am privileged to be among the first beneficiaries.”

Mrs Owusu-Ekuful urged the drivers to stick to the terms and conditions of the scheme to ensure its success and expansion for others to also benefit from it.


Source: Ghana/ClassFMonline.com/91.3FM