Gender Minister rolls out more effective plans to implement LEAP programme

The Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection, Hon. Otiko Afisah Djaba has outlined some plans to effectively help implement and monitor the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) programme, in order cover some more underserved communities in rural Ghana.

According to the Minister, she is currently collaborating with some more key stakeholders, including Parliamentary Select Committee on Gender and Social Protection to help take oversight responsibilities of supervising and monitoring the implementations of the LEAP programme in their various constituencies.

Speaking over the weekend at a-two day media dialogue, on Social Protection Policy Implementation, the role of the Parliamentary Select Committee in Koforidua, Madam Otiko Djaba revealed that, though the LEAP programme has come far by rising from 7,000 households to over 213,000 households, winning an A-plus international award, her ministry is intensifying all efforts to make the programme more efficient to cover entire the country.

Despite successes chalk over the years, the vibrant Gender Minister, says she is currently cooperating with Parliament to take a second look at Ghana’s Social Protection Policy and the Affirmative Action Bill, if there is the need for any re-tooling to effectively reach and empower very vulnerable groups in society when finally passed as laws.

Madam Otiko Djaba in a media interview insisted that she is pulling all strings with some appropriate institutions to present to parliament Ghana’s Ageing and Adoption Policy for necessary legislation to take care of these groups.

“It’s important that as a nation we understand that, suffering is everywhere and has no political or religious colour. So we as NPP government want to make it more accurate as we said in our manifesto to ensure that, the programme reaches the poorest of the poor and the most vulnerable groups in our society”, the Gender Minister said.

She also added that, the whole ambition behind LEAP is to make the programme better and more effective for everyone. Though she couldn’t promised of the programme reaching everyone at a goal, she maintained that, her ministry has more proactive measures and effective plans of opening it up to cover the entire nation in few years.

Madam Otiko Djaba how decried that, despite all her efforts to effectively managed the LEAP programme, some unscrupulous people are impersonating her on the various social media platforms, especially Facebook to extort monies from people with the promise of rolling them unto the LEAP.

She therefor cautioned the general public, to ignore such Facebook messages and desist from sending monies into people’s personal mobile money accounts in the name of LEAP.

“There is a syndicate going around with my name on Facebook asking people to pay monies into mobile money accounts, before they’re enrolled unto LEAP, please ignore them and don’t allowed yourself to be defrauded. The Gender Ministry do not transact the LEAP programme or any businesses on Facebook with personal mobile money accounts”, the minister warned.