Gov't ready to give out cash to poor people, but ...

Bawku Central MP describes it as miserable political handouts.

The decision by government to put cash directly into the pockets of poor people in this country seems to be hitting some raw nerves with opponents to the decision describing it as an insincere policy aimed at perpetually entrenching poverty in the country instead of putting the right interventions in place to either end or alleviate it.

Speaking on Accra radio station, JoyFM last Tuesday, Minister for Employment and Manpower Development, Nana Akomea said a total of Gh? 20,000.00 has been earmarked to be disbursed to the country?s poor. Each person or group would receive between $8 and $15 a day to be spent on food and water.

The decision is derived from the Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy II which stipulates that the necessary social interventions must be put in place by government to ensure that direct cash is put into the pockets of the poor. Relying on statistics from the Ghana Living Standard Survey, Mr. Akomea said about 42% of Ghanaians fall below the poverty level, but the money will go directly to those classified as the poorest within the society.

Such persons, Mr. Akomea said, survive on less than a dollar a day and the amount would ensure that they live a decent life. He explained that the criteria for the selection will be multi prone where the very vulnerable such as orphans, old and sick persons within an identified household would be directed to go to the Ghana Post Office to receive their money.

The Employment minister said the programme, which is expected to take off next month will only serve as complimentary to already existing interventions from private quarters. He mentioned that the programme has a five year life span of which the standard of the extreme poor in the country would have been marginally improved.

He said funding for the project was solely generated by government with additional incentives coming from donor agencies, explaining that the additional donor incentives would be used to build the capacity of those to administer the exercise.

The minister mentioned countries in Latin America such as Bolivia and Brazil where the same exercise has been successfully undertaken.

He laughed off a suggestion that the program is a subtle way of canvassing for votes in the run up to this year?s elections. Member of Parliament for Bawku Central Mahama Ayariga will however have none of it.

Speaking on the same radio station a day after the minister appeared, Mr. Ayariga said after seven years in government, the Ghanaian people have been inflicted with massive poverty, and are to be compensated with a miserable handout to deceive them.

He said the direct cash package is a kind of compensation for the government?s own failure to create one thousand jobs for Ghanaians in their first hundred days when they took over the ruins of government.

?This is just a gimmick because we are in election year and a strategy to buy votes after they have impoverished people for seven good years.?

Doing a break down of the figures he said by inference government would be seen to be giving out an amount of Gh?2 to each individual and this falls far below the World Bank projection of a dollar a day for individuals.

Mr. Ayariga also questioned the transparent nature of the exercise wondering how the monitoring of the disbursement would be undertaken. He cited the lack of transparency in handling the Capitation Grant and the School Feeding Programme, adding that ?and this is what this particular programme is going to run into.?

He also claimed that the exercise itself is unconstitutional because Article 216 stipulates that before any exercise is undertaken by an official of state he has to publish in advance the modalities and inherent regulations surrounding the beneficiary communities or households.

?But this programme has not been brought to parliament for discussions, deliberations and approval,? he said.

He agreed that the money could be used to put in place infrastructure to create jobs to make the people earn an income but have rather resorted to putting in place structures that have destroyed the opportunities available to Ghanaians to start their own businesses.

The Executive Director for the Institute for Policy Alternatives Dr. Sulley Gariba on his part said the issue of giving out money to poor people is not new because it is something that has always been happening in the country.

Dr. Gariba said certain state officials including Ministers are given coupons to get free fuels, but said this is the first time the poor are being targeted in this dispensation.

He agreed that the policy will not alleviate poverty but together with other factors, it would help achieve the intended purpose. He cited transparency as one of them and said a lot of caution should be exercised to ensure that those who receive the money use it for the intended purpose.

He admitted that the money could be used as propaganda by government but said citizens should equally be alerted on any trick that a ruling government could come up with to win their votes.

The Executive Director of the Centre for Education Policy Franklin Cudjoe said the exercise is a gross disrespect to the average Ghanaian. He noted that it shows the government?s unpreparedness to alleviate poverty among the vast majority of Ghanaians in the country.

By Nii Kwaku Osabutey ANNY kwaku.anny@dailyexpressonline.com