Gender ministry to establish resettlement camp at Gbiniyiri
The Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection (MoGCSP) and other stakeholders are to set up a resettlement camp for displaced residents of Gbiniyiri in the Sawla-Tuna-Kalba District in the Savannah Region.
Food, water and care would be provided at the camp while the government works to restore peace and stability in the area.
Communal clashes over land ownership in Gbiniyiri has led to the death of a number of people, with more than a dozen others injured last weekend.
Following the incident, many residents, mostly women and children, have been displaced, apart from properties destroyed.
The sector Minister, Dr Agnes Naa Momo Lartey, who disclosed this to the media said the school feeding coordinator in the region, together with a number of caterers, had volunteered to cook for the displaced, adding that there were more sustainable means for the victims to survive and start afresh.
Event
She made the disclosure when she led a delegation to Obogu in the Asante Akyem South District in the Ashanti Region to familiarise herself with the implementation of the nationwide Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) reassessment exercise.
It was being carried out in collaboration with the Ghana National Household Registry (GNHR).
The minister said she was impressed with the work done so far by enumerators, and that the exercise would help to eliminate duplication, correct inclusion and exclusion errors, and ensure that only eligible households remained on the programme.
Regional assessment
The six-day reassessment exercise is being conducted in 600 households within the Obogu community.
The data collected would be categorised into three groups - poor, non-poor, extreme poor, so that those who fall within the extreme poor category will qualify for the LEAP.
For his part, the Head of the Ghana National Household Registry said: "We have already completed eight regions- including Central, Volta, Oti, Savannah, Northern and North East".
"Currently, if you look at our social registry, we have about 3.2 million households, translating into 14 million household members", he added.
Obogu accident
While in the district, the minister and her delegation visited the Saviour Church community, where all16 church members lost their lives in a fatal road crash on the Atwedie section of the Kumasi-Accra Highway at Obogu in the Eastern Region, barely a month ago.
The victims were returning from the church’s annual programme .
She also interacted with the people at the Savour Church premises at Obogu, where she observed the deprived nature of the community.
The minister said most of the people were qualified for LEAP, and that the government would continue to introduce interventions to help improve livelihoods.
Gratitude
Community leaders and some affected families expressed gratitude for the support, describing it as timely and encouraging.
"You have been with us from day one.
You have since supported us, both emotionally and financially in our difficult times", Gabriel Kwame Owusu, a relative of 10 out of the 16 victims said.
