A Voiceless Woman

A Kayayo resting.

She travels long distances in search of greener pastures down south of her own motherland. She lingers daily with the hope that she can afford three square meals a day. She struggles daily to overcome every challenge she faces.

 Her day begins with carrying an empty pan on her head with the hope of getting someone to call to her and ask her to carry heavy  loads for them. As to where she gets the energy from to carry such heavy loads, only the Almighty knows, she can carry it over long distances only to be given something meager. Trying to complain about the amount of money given them, they are insulted in exchange. At night when she retires for sleep with her other colleagues, hungry looking men who cannot control their libidos pounce on them and forcefully rape them leaving them pregnant.

No-one comes to the aid of these women, they are left alone to cater for children who do not even know who their fathers are! The women themselves have no clue as to who might have impregnated them as they are mostly raped in the dark.

Is this an era of modern day slavery?Numerous Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) have taken up the challenge of helping these women but to no avail. There is more room for improvement because a lot of them keep migrating down south with the hope of making a living to support family members up north.

Dealing with the influx of foreign goods!!.

It has become a norm these days to visit  market places and find foreign products being sold. Foreign products being sold ranges from second -hand clothing, canned foods, shoes, poultry products all the way down to tooth picks.    

Government has over the years come out with measures like banning the importation of these goods into the country but to no avail. Failure on the side of government to curb this menace is gradually killing our local industries if that has not happened already . Local businesses such as the shoe factory in Kumasi, the cannery factories located across the country have all gone down the drain due to the influx of these goods.

Foreign products on display.

But how can this problem be tackled? Because the rate at which it is increasing is very alarming. Government's failure to ensure the ban on the importation of goods is crippling the local industries. To ensure the ban on some imported goods, government must enforce stricter and harsher laws to ensure that they have control over the kinds of goods that come into the country and those that go out.
Unbiased institutions must to set up and have the sole responsibility of controlling the amount of goods that come into the country. Another measure could be the increment of importation taxes to serve as a deterrent.
Our local industries  must receive adequate support from government,this support may come in a form of special incentives like interest free loans, logistics and many more to encourage workers in these industries.

A woman selling imported jeweleries.

The onus therefore lies on government to ensure that locally manufactured goods are patronized to boost the economy. The only way for local products to be patronized  is by making these products affordable and of good quality for consumers to be proud of purchasing them.