LEAP pays beneficiaries in Ekumfi District

The Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection has presented money to 129 beneficiaries under the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) programme in the Ekumfi District in the Central Region.

The beneficiaries, who were drawn from 10 communities in the district, were given amounts ranging from GH¢40 to GH¢90, depending on the number of people in their household.

Presenting the money to the beneficiaries, a Deputy Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection, Mr John Alexander Ackon, said the programme, which started in only 27 districts in 2008, was now operating in 144 districts across the country.

He noted that about 90,785 aged persons were benefitting from the programme and added that the government was committed to expanding it to cover about 150,000 elderly people.

Social intervention programme

According to him, LEAP was an important social intervention programme tailored towards improving the living standards of particularly the aged.

He stated that the government had thought it wise to expand the programme as a major step towards poverty alleviation, especially among the aged and the vulnerable in the society.

He advised the beneficiaries to put the money to good use by engaging in income-generating activities to enhance their living conditions and those of the people in their households.

He added that officials of the ministry would soon pay regular visits to the beneficiaries to monitor the use of the money. 

District Chief Executive

The District Chief Executive of the Ekumfi District, Mr Ibrahim Kweku Dawson, added his voice to the call for the beneficiaries to invest the money in businesses to increase their wealth.

He called for an expansion of the programme in the district so that more elderly people would benefit from it.