National Communications Officer for the National Democratic congress (NDC), Sammy Gyamfi has disclosed that should Ghanaians vest power in the party in December this year, the Mahama-led administration intends establishing a National Women’s Development Bank.
According to lawyer Sammy Gyamfi, the NDC believes if women are empowered financially, they will be able to help grow the economy of the country.
Referencing data published in the 2023 National Population Census, he said women outnumber men in the country and constitute over 51% of Ghana’s total population, hence the need to take a critical look at their needs.
Considering the data above, the NDC communication boss said, "if you are able to promote women, the job is half done because women are way more than men in Ghana. That is why we are talking about the national Women’s Development Bank. We have noticed that women love to engage in businesses, but they don’t have the requisite capital to start such businesses. A lot of the women have started with their own capital but are not able to sustain it due to the unfavourbale economic conditions in the country in recent times. We are also aware of the loans women have to go for and the draconian interest that come with the loan.’’
"We are also aware that, women spend all their profits in servicing their loans to the extent that, at the end of the day, they end up getting nothing," he added.
Sammy Gyamfi was speaking in an exclusive interview on United Television’s ‘’Mpu ne Mpu" show on Friday May 3.
The NDC National Communications Officer further intimated that it is in light of the plethora of challenges that women face, which has necessitated the idea of having a national Women’s Development Bank; a vision of the John Mahama and his running mate, Professor Jane Naana Opoku Agyemang.
"...... the bank will promote women empowerment in order to give them a very good loan service with an interest rate of less than 10%," he assured.
Touching on the Banking sector clean up, Sammy Gyamfi noted that, the government, led by Nana Akufo Addo and Dr. Bawumia, deliberately closed down those banks simply because the said owners were non-members of the ruling government.
‘’The government should have devised a more appropriate way of addressing the banking issues instead of closing them down. They have closed down all indigenous banks, savings and loans, and micro finances, leading to the distress women have found themselves in now," but added that the National Women's Dev't Bank "is a game-changer for women. The 24-hour is for everybody but the National Women’s Development Bank is for all women because John Mahama is concerned about women welfare and intends to give them the best financial support system. ‘’
In terms of proximity, he added that the Women’s Development Bank will have its headquarters situated in Accra, but will be decentralized at the regional and district levels.
