Government implementing Disability Act – MCE
The Yilo Krobo Municipal Chief Executive (MCE), Mr Andrews Sodah, has said the government is determined to remove societal stigmatisation and discrimination against People with Disabilities (PWDs) and to mainstream issues affecting them into the development process of the country.
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He said under the Ghana shared Growth and Development Agenda (GSGDA) 2010-2013, the government had outlined a number of strategies and actions to enhance the socio-economic well-being of PWDs in all parts of the country.
Accordingly, Mr Sodah said, the Yilo Krobo Municipal Assembly was implementing planned activities to deal with challenges confronting PWDs in the municipality and to empower them to become self-reliant in order to contribute to the development process of the municipality.
He said as part of these interventions, a disability fund had been established from which various forms of support were being extended to the PWDs in the municipality.
Under the fund, he disclosed that GH¢ 124,815.75 had been disbursed to meet various forms of commitments in the interest of the physically challenged in the municipality.
These, he said, included the acquisition of 1,200 pieces of plastic chairs, 400 pieces of students mattresses and 50 rooms of royal – type canopies for the four PWD groups numbering 350 and located at Somanya, Nkurakan, Klo-Agogo, and Sikabeng Zones, all in the Yilo Krobo Municipality.
Mr Sodah was speaking at this year’s commemoration of the World Day of the Physically Challenged at Sikabeng in Upper Yilo Krobo.
The occasion was on the theme: “Education, Mobilisation and Empowerment of the physically challenged in the municipality”.
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He said the aim was to enable the PWDs to generate income through the renting of chairs, mattresses and canopies to fund their activities in order to achieve their group objectives. He said, in addition, the assembly would procure corn mills for the PWDs to enable them to generate more income.
He said a sum of GH¢1,200 had been paid in respect of office accommodation for three years for the Somanya Zone, the headquarters of the group. In addition, a 40-footer container has been acquired for the Somanya group to have permanent office accommodation after the expiration of the tenancy agreement in 2013.
Also, a generator has been acquired for the Nkurankan group for hiring to generate revenue.
He said the fund had supported over 100 physically challenged persons in the areas of education and training, health care, trading, vocation, and artisanship to the tune of GH¢32,216.
Mr Sodah said as part of measures to ensure that PWDs were able to access its offices easily, the Yilo Krobo Municipal Assembly had constructed ramps and established a client service unit at the assembly.
“Let me seize this opportunity to request all Departments of the Assembly and other institutions and organisations which offer services to the public that have not done so to adopt similar approach to make PWDs access their offices with ease so that they can fully benefit from the service they render,” he stressed.
He said the assembly compiled a data base of all disabled persons in the municipality in 2011, yet there were some who had still not registered and appealed to all physically challenged persons who had not done that to contact the Municipal Department of Social Welfare and register to enable the assembly to update the records on them.
Mr Sodah said the government alone could not deal with all issues affecting PWDs and lauded the non-governmental and civil society organisations (NGCSOs) for complementing government’s efforts to improve the lot of PWDs in the municipality.
He was particularly grateful to the Christ Apostolic Church, Adjikpo – Somanya, for providing the PWDs in Somanya with food items and clothing worth GH¢ 800.00 recently.
He assured the PWDs that the assembly was ready to support their children who qualified to enter senior high schools and tertiary institutions and urged such parents to see the assembly’s committee on PWDs if their children qualified.