Member of Parliament for Agona East Constituency in the Central Region, Miss Queenstar Pokua Sawyerr, has rebuffed accusations she is sharing money to court votes because it is close to elections.
According to her, the activity she is engaged in did not start today as the Maame Pokua Loan Scheme (MPLS) has been in operation and supporting women for the past 12 years.
She described as ridiculous claims by members of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) that the monies she was distributing to the beneficiaries are just a stack of papers while at the same time accusing her of distributing money for votes.
Responding to the accusations in an interview with the Ghana Publisher Newspaper, the MP stated that the MPLS has been distributing money to women traders every year.
“Last year I did it, two years ago I did it, three years ago I did it and four years I did it though my party is not in power.”
“For this year, I should have done it sometime in September, however, because of the Coronarivus disease (COVID-19), I had to do the distribution in bits.”
She stated that three weeks ago when the first distribution was done, members of the ruling NPP went to town and accused her of distributing papers because she has no money.
She stressed that she, therefore, decided to take the money along during the second distribution so she could demonstrate to the NPP and those who claimed she had packed papers in the boxes that indeed she is giving out physical cash.
According to her, the NPP in the Agona East knows of her interventions in the constituency, and therefore their claims that they do not know the monies she is giving out are loans are lies.
“They know these are loans to these petty traders. They know every year I throw a party for poor kids aged 13 and below; about 5,000 children. This is my tenth year.”
“And the children that come are both from NDC and NPP parents but that does not matter to them, me or their parents,” she stated.
Miss Queenstar argued that these children do not vote so nobody could accuse her of soliciting votes from them.
She disclosed that she also feeds BECE students every year and has been doing so for the past eight years and added, “Every year I feed over 2,000 BECE students.”
According to her, because the NPP has realized the youth are supporting her massively they are not happy and want to tarnish the good works she has been doing.
She indicated that the third intervention is the soft loans she has been giving to petty traders.
She explained these are women who need just a little support so they could engage in some form of trading to eke out a living and stressed as a woman and an MP she is proud she is able to help these poor women.
She said, “So this is a loan scheme and we have an account at the Kwanyako Rural Bank. They can go and check the MPLS, it is there,” she said.
According to her, the payment is flexible so some opt to pay in two weeks while some go for one month and added that everyone in Agona East knows there is a loan scheme.
“I do this every year in September and October so I am baffled they are claiming I am now doing this because it is close to the elections,” she stated.
Source: The Ghanaian Publisher