Vice President Dr. Bawumia with two of the physically challenged in a group photograph with Kwaku Agyemang Manu (4th left), Minister of Health, Kumah Aboagye (right) and other dignitaries. Picture by Gifty Ama Lawson.
It was all excitement yesterday when government gave out 20,000 electronic and manual wheelchairs to persons with disabilities (PWDs) spread across the country.
Each district will have their share of the wheelchairs through the various District Health Directorates, and it is a partnership with the World Bank.
At a presentation ceremony in Accra yesterday, Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia said the donation to persons with disabilities would enhance personal mobility, a precondition for enjoying human rights and living in dignity.
Apart from that, he said, it would equally assist persons with disabilities in becoming more productive members of the communities.
This, he said, formed government’s plan not only to provide access to a quality of life and equal rights, but also in partial fulfilment of number eight of the United Nations Strategic Development Goals (SDGs) which enjoins all to promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all, including persons with disabilities.
Whiles he admitted to the fact that the past one year has been challenging due to the COVID-19 pandemic, he noted that “the government of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo is not insensitive to these challenges, hence the implementation of several initiatives to ease and to eliminate the obstacles many of you face in your everyday lives.”
He outlined a number of initiatives the government has undertaken since 2017, including the fact that in 2020, the government presented GH¢2million to 1,000 disabled men entrepreneurs under the Presidential Empowerment for Male Entrepreneurs with Disability (PEMED).
In the same year, he said government equally provided GH¢2million to 1,000 disabled women entrepreneurs who also received financial support and training to build their capacity and enhance their competitiveness under the Presidential Empowerment for Women Entrepreneurs with Disability (PEWED).
In 2019, he said the government handed over 10,000 hospital beds to the Minister for Health for distribution across the country.
Through the Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communications (GIFEC), government provided students living with disability in selected tertiary institutions with assistive technology-enabled devices and training to promote their digital inclusion in 2019.
Government also provided 240 fit-for-purpose gender and disability friendly school sanitation facilities to over 231,870 school pupils of low-income communities in the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area (GAMA) through the GAMA Sanitation and Water Project.
By Charles Takyi-Boadu