The District Chief Executive (DCE) for Fanteakwa North District in the Eastern Region, Charles Oware-Tweneboah, has assured People With Disabilities (PWDs) in the district of government’s support to earn decent incomes.
He, however, urged them to put the items they received to economic use for their benefit.
Mr Oware-Tweneboah gave the assurance when he presented various items to 28 PWDs at a short ceremony on the assembly’s premises at Begoro, the district capital last Friday.
Recipients
Twenty people received physical items including deep freezers, sewing machines, Korea Towels, hair dryers, baking ovens, bags of rice and oil, tomatoes grinding machines and cocoa spraying machines, all amounting to GH¢62,054.
The other eight recipients made up of five males and three females received physical cash for health and education, which also amounted to GH¢14,000.
Speaking at the ceremony, Mr Oware-Tweneboah advised the PWDs in the district not to see themselves as people who could not do anything meaningful to fend for themselves.
“You are all capable of doing something meaningful that will earn you decent living and, therefore, I am happy that you chose the items you want to help you earn your own living and that is exactly what the government has brought on board for the past seven years it started this programme,” he said.
Attitude
He told them many of their predecessors who received the items some years earlier sold them in order to get quick money, adding that this kind of attitude did not help them as they continued to wallow in poverty after spending that money.
He said the government would continue to do more for PWDs if the government had evidence through monitoring that all of the recipients were putting the items to good use.
Mr Oware- Tweneboah stressed maintenance culture, which he said Ghanaians were lacking.
He said from the previous monitoring of items presented to the PWDs, most of them did not maintain the items they received, adding “It does not speak well of them as individual recipients and your group or batch should not copy that bad example.”
Savings
The Fanteakwa North District Director of Social Welfare and Community Development, Godwin Amoakohene, entreated the recipients to cultivate the habit of saving some of their returns.
He explained that during the assembly’s monitoring since the programme started seven years now, it came to light that most of them, if not all, had not saved anything against their future.
He advised them to open bank accounts and make savings to secure their future, saying they stood the chance to even get loans from the banks or credit unions, as well as their association.
Maintenance assurance
One of the recipients, Benson Saakwa, on behalf of his colleagues, thanked the assembly for what he termed ‘’gifts’’ for their livelihood.
He was sure that his batch of recipients were going to ensure they maintained the items for their own good. He confirmed that some of their predecessors who received the items from the assembly either sold it outright or did not maintain it for longer lifespan.
