Cured lepers village in Ho threatened with electricity cut

Electricity supply to the Schoonhoven Cured Lepers Village at the outskirts of Ho, may be disconnected anytime soon for non-payment of bills.

The village, put up by foreign philanthropists, has a clinic and accommodation for the cured lepers and their dependants.

Mr. Anthony Adjavor, Ghana Health Service Chief Technical Officer for Leprosy Control in the Volta Region, gave the hint when scores of Old Vandals (Past Students of the Commonwealth Hall of the University of Ghana) converged at the village on Friday for a clean-up and presentation to the cured lepers.

He told the Ghana News Agency that the clinic owe GH? 3,109.24, worth of electricity consumption apart from bills accumulated by 48 households living in the 13 quarters in the village.

Mr Adjavor said the inmates, are beneficiaries of Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty stipends, whilst the village as a corporate entity is cash strapped.

He said the one meal per day being offered the inmates was suspended on Wednesday whilst the kitchen was closed because the village had run out of food items.

The Old Vandals swept and weeded the vicinity of the clinic and skills training centre of the village and also engaged the inmates in conversations.

The group presented food items, including bags of rice and maize and soft drinks at a cost of GH?1,600 to the inmates.

Mr. Stephen Sedofu, President of the Old Vandals, Ho-Chapter, said the exercise was a periodic one undertaken to help tackle the livelihood problems of the disadvantaged in the society.

He urged all Old Vandals in Ho and its vicinities to join their colleagues, who meet on the first Wednesday of every month in Ho.

Mr. Dickson Danso, Vice President of the Chapter, said members visited the home as a way to show appreciation to the society by “giving back a little of what they have gotten from it”.

He said members had provided dependants of the inmates with cards of the National Health Insurance Scheme.

Mr. George Tasiame, Public Relations Officer of the Ho Mutual Health Insurance Scheme, briefed inmates on the necessity of the health insurance card.**