Lower Manya Krobo Municipal Assembly to embark on registration of PWDs

All Persons Living with Disabilities in the Lower Manya Krobo Municipal in the Eastern Region will soon be registered through the conduct of a special exercise to be undertaken by the Lower Manya Krobo Municipal Assembly, the Municipal Chief Executive for the area has disclosed.

Honourable Simon Kweku Tetteh said the exercise which will capture a comprehensive list of all PWDs in the area has become necessary as the data was crucial to feed the assembly with the right statistics of PWDs in the area to adequately plan towards their welfare.

The assembly chief made the disclosure on Thursday, March 14, 2019, when the Lower Manya Krobo Municipal Assembly supported some 13 persons with disabilities with a number of items to improve their living standards.

Although most PWDs in the municipal are registered with the assembly, most of them have still not been formally captured in the assembly’s disability database, a situation the MCE believes must be addressed.

The items, which are to help the beneficiaries venture into commercially viable activities, were procured from the share of the common fund allocated to the Assembly.

Persons with disabilities have a 3% share of all quarterly releases of the DACF meant for their upkeep. The Fund was previously disbursed in cash to the physically challenged persons for their use.

The government, however, took a decision that instead of handing out cash to the beneficiaries which they usually dissipated in no time, it was better to ensure that the money was used to secure sources of living with their consent.

In compliance with this directive therefore, the Assembly decided to use the funds to set them up in small business ventures which would help improve their economic status instead of taking the cash.

At a brief ceremony at the premises of the Assembly on Thursday, March 14, 2019, the Municipal Chief Executive, Honourable Simon Kweku Tetteh, presented some brand new refrigerators, popcorn machines and some electrical appliances to the beneficiaries to enable them start businesses on their own.

Hon Simon Tetteh with the assistance of the Coordinating Director, madam jemima Afedo also presented the items based on the requests made by some of the beneficiaries.

According to the MCE, the number, which is the fourth batch of recipients brings to 134 the total number of beneficiaries who had received such life sustaining aids from the assembly.

The items were received directly by the individual beneficiaries. Present at the ceremony was madam Naa, the Director of social welfare of the Ghana Federation for the Disabled in the Municipality.

The beneficiaries are made of physically challenged persons, visually impaired as well as others suffering from hearing impairment, etc.