Thursday, February 21, 2013

Create Criteria For Disbursement Of PWDs Fund –Govt told



Lack of transparency in the implementation of social protection programmes by some Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) in the Northern Region of Ghana appears to be causing agitation and mistrust among beneficiaries, who are mostly persons with disabilities (PWDs).

For this reason, government has been asked to put in place a criterion for the disbursement of the 2 percent share of the district assembly common fund (DACF) allocated to PWDs since there was no such thing in place, thereby always creating confusion between MMDA officials and the PWDs and vulnerable groups such as mentally ill persons and epileptic patients.

This came to light during series of interface meetings organized in seven MMDAs by Gub-Katimali Society, a non-governmental organization in the Northern Region, as part of the implementation of a three-year project funded by the European Union Commission in Ghana. The MMDAs include East Mamprusi, West Mamprusi, Bunkpurugu-Yunyoo, Nanumba North, Nanumba South, Central Gonja and Tamale. 

The project, dubbed “Promoting an Inclusive and Empowered Civil Society to advance Socio-Economic and Political Development in Ghana” aimed to build an inclusive and empowered civil society well aware of their needs and rights, including existing and contemplated public policies and programmes and increase their debate as well as lobby and advocate in their favour.

It also intended to contribute to increasing awareness and capacities of Community Based Organisations of men and women with mental illness or epilepsy, PWDs, women, youth and farmer groups to influence policy planning and implementation. 

Some of the beneficiaries who spoke during an open forum at one of such meetings in Tamale, complained that the PWDs Fund was managed by a committee put in place by the assembly of which they have a representative, but their representative was not part of the signatories to the bank account opened for the Fund.

They also disclosed that PWDs had no knowledge of how much money was always transferred into their bank account at the end of every quarter and as a result, the lack of transparency here was breeding mistrust between PWDs and assembly officials.

Other participants also bewailed the manner in which assembly officials had succeeded in politicising almost all social protection programmes and development projects being implemented, saying mostly certain programmes intended to benefit them were rather given to other group of people based on political favouritism and not because they deserve to benefit.

On the other hand, MMDA officials complained bitterly about the late transfer of their DACF which negatively affect their planned activities in every quarter, thereby portraying assembly officials as liars to the people particularly those who were entitled to some form of monies allocated to them in the DACF.

Besides, some of the MMDA officials expressed concern about the dishonest nature of some PWD and other vulnerable groups, saying most of them squander their money anyhow on alcohol, mobile phones and other trivial things instead of investing it in income generating activity since the Fund was a revolving one and others were on standby expecting to benefit.  

It also emerged that there was discrimination and stigmatisation among the PWDs as the physically challenged, visually and hearing impaired did not want mentally ill and epileptic persons to benefit from the Fund because they perceived them not to be PWDs.  

Meanwhile, the Executive Director of Gub-Katimali Society, Sheik Yakubu Abdul-Kareem expressed satisfaction about the MMDAs efforts to meet the demands of their people in spite of the difficulties they faced.

He however, wished the PWDs and other vulnerable groups in various MMDAs could cooperate with officials so that they could deliver on their mandate.

A grassroots development organization founded in 1991 to help promote rural development in Northern Ghana, Gub-Katimali Society seeks to sensitise, empower and enable local communities to realize their own development through collective participation, partnership and pooling local resources together for sustainable development.

Gub-Katimali Society currently operates in nine MMDAs in the Northern Region and has since its establishment and with the support of its partners such as Trull Foundation, Charity of Rebecca and Hope for Children, supported over 70 students some of whom have completed tertiary and secondary education. It has also supported children with mental illness to enroll in or go back to school after stabilizing, and provided their parents with small ruminants to rear in order to cater for their children’s education.

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