"We don't see beggars in Obuasi East due to Disability Fund" — Obuasi East MP

The Member of Parliament for the Obuasi East Honorable Dr. Patrick Boakye Yiadom has lauded government for the disbursement of the Disability Fund.

He said the fund has been of immense help to Persons with Disability in the district, taking them off the streets.

Dr. Boakye Yiadom was interacting with the media after he joined the District Chief Executive for Obuasi East Honorable Faustina Amissah to present items ranging from deep freezers, popcorn machines, fufu pounding machines and 17 bags of charcoal to Persons with Disability in the District.

The government of Ghana introduced Disability Fund to provide one-off financial support to persons with disabilities through its decentralised political units. This is to enable persons with disability to participate in socio-economic activities.

The MP said apart from the disability fund, his office and the Assembly have collaborated to roll out certain skill training programs which have benefitted most people in the district including persons with disability.

"We have implemented series of skills training programs for the people of Obuasi East to improve their livelihoods and make them economically independent. A lot of PWDs here are direct beneficiaries of such programmes".

He admonished the beneficiaries to make good use of the items presented to them.

On her part, the District Chief Executive Hon Faustina Amissah said currently junk of the allocations of the fund goes into economic empowerment. This she said is deliberately done to bring total transformation to the lives of the beneficiaries.

She said " out of the 22 beneficiaries, 16 of them benefitted from economic support which is laudable. This is done to cushion them to be self-reliant and bring relief to themselves and their family members. Again six (6) people were also given medical and educational support".

Hon Faustina Amissah assured PWDs in the District that the Assembly is committed to promptly disbursing the disability fund immediately after it hits its account. She added that the Assembly will intensify its monitoring strategies to ensure that items presented are put to good use.

Kwame Ankrah, the Chairman of the Obuasi East Federation of Disability praised the Assembly for the prompt release of the fund. He said the demonstrable commitment on the part of the Assembly not to delay the disbursement of the Disability fund is highly commendable.

He also charged beneficiaries to put the items to good use.