The Deputy Communications Officer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Anthony Kwaku Boahen, has dismissed government's intention to support Zongo women in the preparation of Waakye and Sobolo.

Minister for Inner-city and Zongo Development, Dr Mustapha Hamid announced on the floor of Parliament that the government will train Zongo women in the country in ‘waakye’ and ‘sobolo’ making as part of moves to empower them to be economically productive.

According to him, the Ministry has since its inception put in place a number of socio-economic programmes to improve household incomes of such communities.

“The Ministry has initiated a number of socio-economic programmes that are aimed at developing the human capacities of the people in zongo communities, empower them to be economically productive and supporting the promotion of their indigenous businesses in order to improve household incomes.

“To this end, the ministry is working with the National Board for Small Scale Industry (NBSSI) to train selected women across zongo communities who have businesses and especially in zongo cuisine like “waakye,” “sobolo,” “tubani,” “koko” and the rest of them, first of all, to improve the development and packaging of these foods in order to add value and increase incomes associated with these businesses.

Reacting to this claim of the Minister on UTV, Kwaku Boahen said the government is being forced to invest into Wakkye business because it has since assumption of power supervised over a poor economy which has indirectly affected the Waakye Business.

“Who teaches Zongo people how to prepare Waakye? Who was preparing the waakye he, Mustapha Hamid used to consume as a child? Is he the one who is now going to teach them how to prepare Waakye and Koko…,?” he quizzed.