Depoliticize LEAP – Prof. Debrah

Political Science Lecturer at the University of Ghana, Prof. Emmanuel Debrah has warned politicians to desist from politicizing government initiatives during elections just to win favour from Ghanaians.

According to him, government initiatives like the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) programme which was supposed to ease the financial burden on most households in the country is being politicized instead of being realized to solve the country’s poverty crisis.

Speaking at an event held in Accra by CDD and Penplusbytes under the theme; “Social Accountability Policy Advocacy Forum” Wednesday April 19, Prof. Debrah, stated that politicians, in order to garner for themselves the votes of the populace, portray themselves as the “savior” by making pledges to resolve the country’s economic crisis.

“Why is it that there is aggressiveness in getting this; reach out to the people during the election year, but in non-election year, we see it in normal distribution. That tells us that government shows off by presenting itself as the one who is saving the people, who is coming to help them, take them from the pragma of poverty”, he stated.

Prof. Debrah added that despite the fact that politics cannot be eliminated from the system, politicians virtually make mere promises to their advantage during the election period; promises they forget and neglect after their government comes into power.

He urged all politicians to seek the common good of Ghana by refraining from politicizing such government initiatives and rather focus on itsrealization.

Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) programme, is a social cash transfer programme that provides cash and health insurance to the extremely poor households across the country.

Its main aim is to alleviate short-term poverty and encourage long-term human capital development. In 2008, LEAP was launched as Ghana's flagship programme of the National Social Protection Strategy and was largely funded by the government of Ghana and supported by the World Bank and DFID. It also receives technical support from UNICEF's social protection unit.

So far, over 95,000 beneficiary households in 144 districts are paid through the LEAP programme.