Fifteen Persons Living with Disability (PWDs) in the Akrofuom District of the Ashanti Region have been supported with items to improve their livelihoods by the District Assembly.
The items include deep freezers, industrial sewing machines, fufu pounding machines, hair dryers and wheelchairs.
It is the eighth time the District Assembly has disbursed the Disability Fund to the benefit of the PWDs since it was created in 2018.
Maurice Jonas Woode, District Chief Executive (DCE), explained that, the gesture was to meet the needs of beneficiaries, and to economically empower them to improve their livelihoods.
He disclosed that, the items, worth GH¢50,000, were sourced from the Assembly’s share of the 3% Disability Fund from the District Assembly Common Fund (DACF) introduced by the government to empower Persons Living With Disabilities (PWDs).
According to him, the Disability Fund was aimed at equipping PWDs in economic and business ventures, as well as provide educational/training support and medical/health support to empower them.
Mr. Woode indicated that the district had successfully registered 90% of individuals with disabilities in the area to benefit from the Disability Fund.
He emphasised that the Assembly had been transparent in its disbursement processes.
The DCE stated that aside donating items to the PWDs, the Assembly, in the latter part of 2022, organised a skills training programme for them in the district, where they were trained in brown sugar, fresh yoghurt, and mouthwash production.
He stressed the government’s commitment to improving the living conditions of persons with disability, for which all Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs) had been directed to take matters involving PWDs seriously, and work to improve their livelihoods.
Mr. Woode revealed that the district had undertaken other measures to support the disabled community, including renewing their National Health Insurance, and payment of school fees for students among them.
He underscored that, the primary goal of providing the items to them was to prevent people with disabilities from becoming a burden to their families, the community, and the nation at large.
He urged the recipients to use the items provided them to earn some income and cater for themselves.
The DCE stressed that the items were purchased with funds earned during the second and third quarter of the year, adding that they would be monitored to ensure the items were used for the intended purposes.
Mr. Gideon Osei Poku, District Social Welfare Officer, emphasised the importance of utilising the items for their intended purposes, and not allowing them to go to waste, citing past experiences where some beneficiaries failed to make productive use of the items given them.
He explained that before purchasing the items, the Assembly conducted investigations and interacted with the beneficiaries to ascertain that the items purchased would be beneficial to them.
The Social Service Sub-Committee Chairman, Edward Peprah, also advised that the distributed items be utilised in a proper and effective manner.
Miss Josephine Abena Kuukye, Secretary of the Ghana Society of the Physically Disabled (GSPD), disclosed that the Obuasi Training and Rehabilitation Center built by Anglogold Ashanti was helping members tremendously to improve their standards of living.
She said the centre sought to provide hands-on training for the physically challenged to enhance their employable skills through demand-driven skills.
She added that the center would provide training in sewing, basket weaving, leather works, Kente weaving, and other highly demanded skills.
She encouraged the members to enroll at the center to ensure that they acquired employable skills to be economically empowered and becomes economically independent.
Mrs. Sarah Tieku, a beneficiary, on behalf of the PLWDs, expressed gratitude to the Assembly for the support to enhance their livelihoods.
She lauded the DCE and the Assembly for the transparent and prompt disbursement of the Disability Fund.
