An amount of GH¢56,500 was yesterday disbursed to 38 People Leaving with Disabilities (PWDs) at the La Dade-Kotopon Municipal Assembly (LaDMA) in the Greater Accra Region.
The money was aimed at supporting such persons into entrepreneurial skills in order to get them off the streets while dealing with the menace of streetism.
In a brief presentation by the Head of Social Welfare and Community Development, Mrs Ernestina Pwamang, said the 17years of support to PWDs had been fruitful.
“The money comes every quarter and it has been of great benefit to these persons, it is gradually reducing begging and illiteracy in the country as most of them are working to make ends meet,” she said.
Mrs Pwamang added that there were few challenges in the process, which included misplaced priorities, wrong numbers when tracing, people crisscrossing from one district to other districts for more money among others.
She urged the beneficiaries to discontinue the act of misusing the funds but rather use the moneys for the intended purpose.
“For some time now we have noticed that some people come for support yet they don’t use the funds for what they had earlier stated and if this continues government would stop supporting such persons,” she cautioned.
The Programme Officer of the National Council on PWDs, Mr Joshua Addy said the moneys were supports from government to help them engage in economic ventures to improve their lives.
“Though the money might not be enough it is just a support so one has to add if necessary to be able to start a business on their own,” he said.
He explained that the moneys given were being accounted for by officials of the assembly and inspected by auditors, so if those moneys were misused it could cause the failure of such persons.
“Whatever one requested the money for must be evident when the auditors come for inspection in order to know the progress of their own request, receipts, pictures of the items and others are also required,” he said.
The Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) of LaDMA, Mr Solomon Kotey-Nikoi, observed that things were difficult and encouraged beneficiaries to invest the moneys into productive ventures to yield dividends for themselves.
BY ANITA ANKRAH
