The La Dade-Kotopon Municipal Assembly (LaDMA) has disbursed GH¢219,592 from the District Assemblies Common Fund (DACF) Disability Allocation, to support 48 Persons With Disabilities (PWDs) in the municipality.
The disbursement, which came in the form of cash and items depending on the beneficiary’s preference, included cash ranging from GH¢2,000.00 to GH¢5,000.00, refrigerators, industrial knitting machines, and other items.
Presenting the support, the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE), Alfredos Nii Anyetei, said the intervention was sourced from the statutory three per cent allocation of the Common Fund to improve the socio-economic well-being of PWDs, through income generation activities, educational assistance, and medical support.
“As an assembly, every year, the PWDs’ share of the Common Fund is used to purchase items of choice by the beneficiaries, and while others are given cash as a way of boosting their economic livelihoods to make a living for themselves,” he noted.
He underscored the need for beneficiaries to understand that the Disability Allocation of the Common Fund was to reduce much of the burdens of PWDs from their relatives, friends, and society.
“The allocation of the fund is to ensure that PWDs do not become a burden or nuisance to society but productive to themselves and families,” the MCE stated.
Mr Anyetei cautioned them to use the items and cash judiciously for their intended purpose in order to reap enough benefits and to constantly ensure the items were maintained regularly to stand the test of time.
The Head of Department of Social Welfare and Community Development of LaDMA, Paulina Mensah, indicated that the only criteria for qualification to benefit was to be a PWD within the jurisdiction and then apply for the assistance.
“A need assessment is conducted where government workers are not qualified to apply, but for non-government workers, they qualify to apply in order to empower them to have a dignified job and standard of living so they could live above the poverty line,” she elaborated.
According to the head, the assembly assisted most beneficiaries in financial management, basic bookkeeping, and other training due to the kind of business they were engaging in, for them to keep good records of their activities.
Ms Mensah commended parents and relatives for their care and support for the PWDs over the years, and pleaded with the rest who were keeping their PWDs indoors to approach any social welfare offices in the assembly for support.
“Social welfare offices in the various districts are there to assist you and your ward with many social interventions like the Allocation of Disability Funds, free National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) programme, including linking them to some Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) with good intentions to assist PWDs,” she stressed.
The Chairman of the Ghana Federation of Disability Organisation, LaDMA, Anthony Adarkwah, commended government through the assembly for the disbursement, and advised the beneficiaries not to waste the opportunity given them, but rather “display commitment and honesty in the discharge of the work for which the funds or items were given.”
BY VICTOR A. BUXTON
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