Public Asked Not To Encourage Disabled To Beg For Alms

Accra, (Greater Accra) 17 Sept.,

The Ghana Society for the Blind (GSB) today called on the public to discourage the presence of beggars on the streets by not giving them alms. Mr W. Owiredu-Gyampoh, Vice-Chairman of the society, told a press conference in Accra that such alms should be channelled to the society which is an NGO supporting and augmenting government efforts in servicing and managing the visually impaired. The conference was to review the activities of the society and to ask for more public support . He said some of these beggars who have benefited from training programmes still take to begging because they find it more lucrative. ''Children are sometimes introduced to begging by adult beggars and they forgo their education, thus draining the country's human resource development''', he added Mrs Victoria Bonsu, Executive Director of GSB, appealed for financial assistance from all segments of the society and said ''many a blind find their way to the doorstep of GSB, and sometimes it is heart-breaking to be unable to offer the required assistance''.