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19.03.2008 General News

Disbursement Under LEAP Starts Today

19.03.2008 LISTEN
By Daily Graphic

About 8,350 individuals from 1,654 households will between today and tomorrow receive their grants under the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) programme.

Each beneficiary would be given GH¢16 for a two-month period therefore, the next payment will be made in May.

The National Co-ordinator of LEAP, Mr Lawrence Ofori-Addo, made this known to the Daily Graphic yesterday.

Beneficiaries in Bawku will, however, not receive the grants as a result of the conflict in the area.

Mr Ofori-Addo said the grants would be disbursed to beneficiaries in Bawku once normalcy was restored.

He said the LEAP Secretariat had completed the data verification of the beneficiaries and that the beneficiaries had also been issued with identification cards, adding that the payment would be done through Ghana Post and the district offices of the Department of Social Welfare.

LEAP is part of the National Social Protection Strategy (NSPS), a social grant which seeks to provide funds on conditional basis to extremely poor households with vulnerable orphans. The core feature of the programme is direct cash transfer to categories of poor people.

Mr Ofori-Addo said three other areas — Lawra, Ga West and the Tema Municipality, where errors were identified on the data of some beneficiaries — will have to wait until they were corrected, stating that “as soon as they are corrected they will be added to the list”.

“Our officials are currently contacting the beneficiaries and arranging the payment points. We don't expect long queues, since everything would be smooth,” he said.

Mr Ofori-Addo indicated that the five-year programme, which was at the pre-pilot stage, was expected to cover 164,370 households over the period.

Ninety-two households will benefit in Dangbe West, 43 in the Tema Municipal area, 45 in Ga West, 73 in the Cape Coast Municipal area, 74 in the Agona District, 84 in the Assin North District, 99 in Nzema East, 94 in Asuogyaman District and 86 in the Manya Krobo District.

The rest are 93 households in Yilo Krobo District, 115 in New Juabeng, 74 in Fanteakwa, 98 in Kwahu West, 97 in Akuapem South, 89 in Ketu South, 70 in Kumasi Metro, 98 in Obuasi, 104 in the Techiman Municipality, 93 in the Bole District and 31 in the Lawra District.

The Ghana Living Standard Survey (GLSS 5) which was conducted in 2005 and 2006 indicated that 41 per cent of Ghanaians were poor and out of that figure, 18.2 per cent were considered extremely poor.

Story by Emmanuel Bonney

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