A total of 104 people Persons With Disabilities (PWDs) in the Atebubu-Amantin Municipality in the Bono East Region have been presented with a number of items to help empower them economically.
The items, which were procured from their share of the District Assembly Common Fund, included 15 freezers, four industrial sewing machines, one each knitting and domestic sewing machines, 57 sheep, one camera, two welding machines, and two fufu processing machines. Others were a corn mill, three containers, and five tricycles.
Nine persons received assorted farm inputs, made up of fertilisers, seeds, knapsack sprayers, wellington boots, and agrochemicals, while 16 others with interests in petty trading were given GH¢1,000 each.
Receiving the beneficiaries, the Municipal Director of the Department of Social Welfare and Community Development, Mr. Emmanuel Bukari, urged all disabled persons in the Municipality to register with their association in order to benefit from future packages.
The Atebubu-Amantin Municipal Chief Executive (MCE), Mr. Edward Owusu, said the government, with issues of the disabled at heart, increased their share of the District Assembly Common Fund from 2 to 3% on assumption of office in 2017.
He said 80 PWDs benefitted from the 2018 package, and urged those who are yet to benefit to bide their time, since the package will gradually cover all 700 PWDs currently registered in the Municipality.
He said the decision to provide the income-generating items marks a departure from the past, when the PWDs received cash which was thinly spread, and so could not make any impact on their lives.
The Bono East Regional Minister and Member of Parliament (MP) for the Atebubu-Amantin Constituency, Mr. Kofi Amoakohene, said, in line with President’s conviction that disability should not impose any hindrance to the economic well-being of any person, he had directed all assemblies to channel the disability component of the common fund into income-generating activities for the beneficiaries, in order to provide them with alternative livelihoods and consequently empower them economically.
While asking the beneficiaries to take good care of the items, he urged them to register and vote for the NPP in the upcoming general elections, so as to continue benefiting from future packages.
The President of the local chapter of the Ghana Federation of the Disabled, Mr. Shaibu Sulemana, thanked the government for the initiative, which, he said, had helped improve the lot of the beneficiaries.
The post Atebubu Municipal Assembly assists over 100 PWDs appeared first on The Chronicle Online.
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