LEAP Is An Avenue To Steal Money From The State

Former First Lady, Nana Konadu Rawlings, has critcised the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) Programme, describing it as an avenue to steal money from the State.

LEAP is social cash transfer program which provides cash and health insurance to extremely poor households across Ghana to alleviate short-term poverty and encourage long term human capital development.

The programme currently has over 80,000 subscribers, who get about GH₵44 monthly.

Speaking on ETV Ghana, Nana Konadu said LEAP was unnecessary.

“If you give handouts to people you are not encouraging them to do what is right for themselves and their society,” she said.

According to the former First Lady, the programme should be looked at again because it can easily be used to siphon tax-payers money into private pockets

“I think it's a way to steal money from the state.. It's a way to take money that is not accounted for,” she said.

Eligibility for LEAP is based on poverty and having a household member in at least one of three demographic categories; single parent with orphan or vulnerable child (OVC), elderly poor, or person with extreme disability unable to work (PWD).