PPERSONS with disabilities (PWDs) within the Awayaso East Municipal Assembly (AEMA) have received material and financial support in a bid to minimize poverty and improve their living conditions.
At a brief ceremony held at the town hall of the municipal assembly at Kanda in Accra, a total of 46 PWDs were given cash donations, sewing machines, among others, as support by the management of the municipality.
In her address, the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) for AEMA, Hajia Salma Sani Kuta-Adams, commended the organizers and beneficiaries for their hard work and patience respectively, describing the exercise as “the collective desire of this assembly to support persons with disability in the municipality to realize their full potentials.”
She disclosed that her assembly constituted and inaugurated the District Fund Management Committee on March 4 this year after it had received allocation of four tranches of the fund for disbursement.
Consequently, the Department of Social Welfare and Community Development registered a total of 110 PWDs out of which 46 were vetted and approved to receive support.
The Coordinator of the Assembly, Nii Armah Ashitey, on his part, assured the PWDs to desist from entertaining fears of their monies being misappropriated.
He said all funds allocated to the assembly would only be used for their intended objectives and that all funds used would duly be accounted for.
The Disability Fund was introduced by former President John Agyekum Kufuor with the aim of minimizing poverty among PWDs, particularly those outside the formal sector of employment and the enhancement of their social image through dignified labour.
In recent years, the Akufo-Addo government has increased the District Assembly Common Fund allocation from two to three per cent.
This exercise is the first of its kind in the municipality.
The various disability groupings in the AEMA) include physically and mentally challenged, hearing impaired, cerebral palsy, burnt survival, autism and multiple disability.
The 46 beneficiaries went home with items such as sewing machines, microwave ovens, refrigerators and cash donations among others.
By Nii Adjei Mensahfio