New registration to collect data on PWDs underway

The National Council for People with Disabilities is embarking on a nationwide re-registration programme to collect accurate data on PWDs to see how best to assist them.

Ms Juliet Masamaka, the Assistant Programmes Officer of the National Council for People With Disabilities, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency, said it was imperative to embark on the re-registration exercise to assist the Administrator of the District Assemblies Common Fund (DACF) to disburse the funds accurately.

The exercise is currently under way in the Eastern Region with the Volta Region being the next to be tackled.

Ms Masamaka said there was previously no pictorials to authenticate the names captured onto the disability fund adding; “We are working hard to make issues of financial misappropriation, ghost names and corruption among others a thing of the past."

Mr Emmanuel Offei Larbi, the Fanteakwah District Director for Social Development, and the Chairman of the Disability Funds Disbursement Committee, said it was difficult for the beneficiaries to assess the fund due to irregularities in data.

He noted that only three per cent of the DACF was allocated to the PWDs and called on the authorities to increase the allocation to meet the enormous needs of the beneficiaries.

Mrs Yvonne Boadua, a beneficiary, called on the Government to consider the needs of PWDs as its priority.

She said the Fund, when disbursed appropriately, would help the beneficiaries to start a trade and earn some income instead of depending on aids from people.

Mrs. Boadua said she was optimistic the disbursement would not delay any longer and urged members to make good use of the monies given them.