The Minister amongst some LEAP beneficiaries
Minister for Gender, Children, and Social Protection (MoGCSP), Lariba Zuweura Abudu, has disclosed that the ministry is planning to increase the amount of money given to beneficiary households from the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) programme.
This information was made during the minister’s visit to the Shai Osudoko District in the Greater Accra Region where a total of 70 communities and 2,214 households were paid their LEAP cash grants.
The amount of money paid to LEAP beneficiaries is dependent on the number of vulnerable persons in the household.
Any household that has an elderly person 65 years and above, an orphan or vulnerable children, persons with severe disability, extremely poor pregnant and lactating mothers with children under one, or a mixture of these is eligible to be a LEAP beneficiary.
According to the minister, some beneficiaries have shown good use of the monies given to them by the government. As a result, the ministry is looking to increase the amount of money each beneficiary household receives.
“I think government is certainly going to increase the amount. We have finish paying what we owe them so maybe the next trench we will look at the increment,” she stated.
The minister further encouraged the people of the district to use the monies wisely in order to create additional sources of income for themselves.
“Don’t say the money is too small. If you put your mind to it, even if it is one cedi, you can make good use of the one cedi and get a bigger amount of money out of that.”
Opinion leader for the beneficiaries in the Mueyos Teye Kwame community, Fayorsey Adolphus, expressed his excitement towards the government’s plans.
“I am a farmer and married with four kids. Through the LEAP programme I bought a guinea fowl to start a business with and now I have 25 guinea fowls that a laying. Through that, I am able to sell them and get money for my family,” he shared.
By Abigail Atinuke Seyram Adeyemi & Nafisatu Abdul Razak