Member of Parliament for the Shai Osudoku constituency of the Greater Accra Region has Monday launched the Shai Osudoku Corporative Union, SOCU at Dodowa.
The event which attracted hundreds of traders and market women to the Dodowa market served as the official launch of the corporative union, an initiative of the office of the honourable Linda Akweley Ocloo, MP for the constituency.
The Corporative Union which comes with the motto: ‘Together We Build; Together We share’ is to serve the purpose of self-help through contributions by various groups of the Union to the SOCU who are entitled to access loans for various business projects.
According to the MP, the women were reaping the benefits of voting for a woman.
“You were urged to vote for a woman for good results and these are the results. I also urged you before the elections to vote for me to address some of your financial challenges and these are some of your benefits for your loyalty,” she told the expectant crowd.
She further urged beneficiaries not to risk the safety of their hard-earned money by giving it to dubious people, explaining that contributions to the SOCU account should be made through a charge-free MTN short code that will be provided.
Honourable Ocloo in an interview with Rite news after the launch described the facility as ‘the first of its kind in Shai Osudoku.’
“This Corporative Union is the first of its kind in Shai Osudoku in fulfillment of my campaign promise to provide soft loans to traders and market women and I hope that other constituencies emulate the initiative,” she said.
According to the law-maker who describes herself as a ‘mother-for-all,’ about forty-eight groups of between fifteen and eighteen members each had registered with the facility and encouraged more traders, market women and farmers to join the scheme.
Honourable Dr. Francis Dakora
Honourable Dr. Francis Dakora who is the MP for Jirapa in the Upper West Region who was present at the event explained that the birth of the Shai Osudoku Credit Union was as a result of the call by the market women in Dodowa to be granted soft loans for the expansion of their businesses.
The MP who provided seed money of Ghc 250000 for the Union described it as a ‘non-political association’ and urged the members of the Union to dedicate unadulterated loyalty to the facility and invest for bigger results.
On her part, MP for Ada constituency in the Greater Accra Region, Comfort Doyoe Cudjoe Ghansah who graced the occasion and offered her support to the project, also urged beneficiaries of the scheme to eschew political affiliations and support their MP in the bid.
She also added that other MPs were keenly monitoring the outcome of this initiative from Shai osudoku to to adopt it.
Greater Accra Women’s organizer of the National Democratic Congress, Mrs. Felicia Bortey said she was happy that the constituents listened to advice to vote for a woman which benefits they were reaping.
“You listened to advice to vote for a woman and these are the benefits you are reaping because women are hardworking. You must not abuse this help being offered you,” she urged them.
Different categories of contributions to the SOCU include the silver category of Ghc 500, the Diamond category which target is Ghc 1000 and the Gold category which targets Ghc 1500 where contributors are entitled to loans of up to Ghc four times the amount of their contributions.
Source: ritefmonline.org
