The Ayawaso West Municipal Assembly has disbursed GH₵52,000 to 25 Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) in the municipality to help improve their livelihoods.
It was disbursed from the assembly’s Disability Fund sourced from its share of the District Assembly Common Fund.
The 14 males and 11 females consist 15 physically challenged, seven autistic and multiple disabilities as well as three hearing and speech impaired.
The package also formed part of the assembly’s educational, medical and business support for PWDs, especially those in various learning institutions.
The Municipal Chief Executive (MCE), Ms Sandra Owusu-Ahenkorah, presenting the package urged the beneficiaries to put the amounts received to good use to serve as shining examples to others.
According to her, empowering them economically would greatly relieve them of the burden of looking up to relatives for support who sometimes abuse them.
The fund, the MCE stated, was one of the social interventions programmes of government, meant to support them to better their lives, saying that “that is why I am appealing to you to fully and equally participate and contribute to the country’s development.”
Ms Owusu-Ahenkorah urged the PWDs to encourage their compatriots who had not yet registered to do so, to enable them to benefit from the funds and other support from the assembly.
The government, she assured, would continue to shoulder its responsibilities despite the rages of the COVID-19 pandemic and advised the PWDs to constantly liaise with their leaders for prompt action to be taken on any situation they found themselves.
The MCE warned that the assembly would seriously sanction any PWD who misapplied the packages they had been given to serve as deterrent to others, because the fund was not for merrymaking, but to help improve their lot in life.
“The government did not hesitate to respond to their needs to bring relief to you and your families that is why I am urging you not to renege on your responsibilities of putting the support to good use to merit more opportunities from the assembly and government,” she added.
Ms Owusu-Ahenkorah urged the PWDs to strictly adhere to the Ghana Health Service and government directives and protocols on the COVID-19 pandemic and other variants in order to eliminate COVID-19 in the country.
BY LAWRENCE VOMAFA-AKPALU
