The Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communications (GIFEC) has inaugurated a Disability Employment Project aimed at empowering persons with disabilities to earn decent incomes to improve their standard of living.
The project involves establishing a one-stop-shop in all regional capitals where anything to do with telecommunications gadgets including pen-drives, mobile phone chargers and batteries, earphones and credit cards are to be sold to the general public.
As part of the project, a person with disability will be selected to man the shop to sell the items and take charge of the revenue to be generated.
Alhaji Mohammed Muniru Limuna, Northern Regional Minister, who inaugurated the project as well as opened the first shop in Tamale on Friday, said it was a manifestation of government’s commitment to putting people first in its development agenda.
Alhaji Limuna said the government believed in social democracy, which had the interest of all including the marginalized at heart hence the initiative to improve on the lot of persons with disability.
Mr Kofi Attor, Administrator of GIFEC said within the next four weeks, the project would be replicated in all regional capitals to benefit persons with disabilities.
Mr Attor said the funds used to establish the shops were grants and urged the beneficiaries to manage the facility properly to ensure that the funds revolved for others to benefit.
He said GIFEC had also implemented a number of interventions, which helped to improve the situations at some of the visually and hearing impaired schools in the country.
Mr Kwamena Dadzi-dennis, acting Executive Secretary of the National Council for Persons with Disability commended GIFEC for initiating the project, which would go a long way to improve the lot of persons with disabilities.
Mr Dadzi-dennis urged Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies to stick to the guidelines and involve persons with disabilities in the disbursement of the two per cent of the District Assembly Common Fund to the disabled.
