Government should begin full-scale implementation of LEAP

Accra, Feb. 25, GNA - The Ghana Millennium Development Goals - Global Call to Action against Poverty (GMDGs/GCAP) on Thursday called on government to begin full-scale implementation of the Lively Empowerment against Poverty (LEAP) programme, to bring relief to the poor.

The GMDGs/GCAP, which is the local chapter of United Nations Millennium Campaign, also called for the redesigning of the LEAP programme to make the allowances useful to the beneficiaries.

The LEAP programme was introduced in 2008 to support extremely poor households with a cash sum of between GH¢8 and GH¢15 to enhance their= incomes and livelihoods.

A communiqu=E9 issued after a day's capacity building workshop for journalists on the MDGs in Accra said government, in addition to the LEAP, should work towards ensuring income security by creating jobs as well as granting credit facilities for people to engage in livelihood enhancement ventures.

The workshop, organised by the GMDGs/GCAP in collaboration with the West Africa Media Network for MDGs, was to broaden the scope and knowledg= e of the 23 participants to effectively report on the MDGs to ensure their attainment by the 2015 global deadline.

The network is a group of West African journalists engaged in writin= g articles towards attainment of the MDGs. The communiqu=E9, which was signed by the Reverend Albert Kwabi, Executive Director of the GMDGs/GCAP, noted that despite efforts to reduc= e poverty, the levels were still high and this called for decisive measures= to stem the situation to ensure attainment of the MDGs. It also raised issues with the National Health Insurance Scheme and called for a review of the drugs list to include diseases that costs high=

and not covered by the scheme. "Government must implement the one-time health insurance premium to ensure that cost does not become a barrier to accessing healthcare." It said government must make good its promise to build health facilities at every community with a population of 500 people and equip t= hem to facilitate the delivery of quality healthcare service to the people. The communiqu=E9 lauded the introduction of free healthcare programm= e for pregnant women and called for more sensitisation to encourage the beneficiaries to periodically access antenatal services to prevent complications during childbirth so as to reduce maternal and child mortality. On environment, it called on government to develop comprehensive mitigation and adaptation measures against climate change as well as prov= ide sanitation facilities, build bridges and drains to prevent malaria. It also called for the creation of a special fund to support women i= n politics and the introduction of a quota system to increase female participation in governance as a means of empowering them. On education, it called for elimination of cultural practices that constituted barriers to girl-child education as well as the reactivation of the Metro Mass Transit service to give free rides to school children to enhance enrolment. It also touched on the springing up of slums within cities, especial= ly in Accra, and called for the formulation and implementation of pro-poor housing schemes to address the situation.