Buipe, Ghana – A total of 134 Persons with Disability (PWD) in the Central Gonja District have received various working tools, scholarships and cash to empower their lives and create jobs for themselves.
The items include deep freezers, sewing machines, hair dryers, plastic chairs, set of modern mobile phone repair kits, cassava processing machines, welding machines, and others. The rest are education scholarships, medical fees and a start up capital.
Mustapha Mahama, the District Chief Executive for Central Gonja said, the funds used in procuring the items forms part of the 3% District Assembly Common Fund (DACF) allocated for Persons with Disability.
The DCE said out of the 215 beneficiaries, 74 received working tools whiles 41 received money to start their own businesses with 42 going for education scholarships, 30 for small ruminants and 28 for health care needs. And the total amount spent is over Ghc 254,000.00.
He further explained that the items were not imposed on the beneficiaries but that they themselves made the request during a need assessment programme. The donation was the first of its kind in the district.
Mr. Mustapha said a monitoring and evaluation team will be put in place to closely monitor the usage of both the cash and items and that anyone who would misappropriate his or her fund would be sanctioned accordingly.
Mr. Mustapha Mahama also urge the beneficiaries to take good care of the items to ensure that they last longer, He was quick to say that, “disability not inability”.
Many of the beneficiaries expressed their appreciation to government and the Assembly for the support saying it would help improve upon their living conditions.
The President of the Federation of Persons with Disability in the district, Mr Boah, commended the government and assured the items will be used efficiently to benefit society.
By Savannahnewsonline.com/Zion Abdul Rauf