Gender Ministry to pay LEAP beneficiaries through Mobile money

The Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection (MGCSP) is considering paying the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) beneficiaries through mobile money to ease the stress of receiving their cash.

Mrs Cynthia Mamle Morrison, the sector Minister made this known when she supervised payment to 120 LEAP beneficiaries at Nyakrom in the Agona West District of the Central Region.

The beneficiaries who were given between GH¢64.00 to GH¢140.00 per month, received two months payment for June and July as a social intervention measure to reduce poverty in the country.

The Minister said the rationale behind the decision to pay them through Mobile money was due to difficulties beneficiaries went through accessing their monies from the banks.

Mrs Morrison said next payment would be done through mobile money and while the Ministry was against paying the monies into mobile accounts that were not for the beneficiaries, it was also not possible for the Ministry to provide every beneficiary with a mobile phone.

She assured that steps were being taken for the Ministry to reach out to all beneficiaries.

The Minister stated that her Ministry was pursuing aggressive policies and programmes to ensure that beneficiaries of LEAP continued to enjoy a better life for it to reach out to other less privileged people in the Society.

It was also considering giving vocational and technical training skills to LEAP beneficiaries for them to establish their own businesses to enable them become self-reliant.

According to the Minister, discussions have gone far with development partners to look for startup capitals for the beneficiaries to embark on income generating ventures.

The purpose, she noted, was to assist beneficiaries to improve on their living standards to pave the way for others to also enjoy the programme.

Mrs Morrison said the Ministry would also start giving training on financial management and others by the newly established “Business Resources Center” (BRC) at Agona Swedru for sound management of funds.

She said apart from management training, strategies were being put in place to enable the LEAP beneficiaries to form cooperatives with a strong financial base to help manage their resources profitably.