Some Persons With Disability (PWD) in the Ashaiman Municipality have lamented over the two year delay in the disbursement of their share of the District Assembly Common Fund.
The aggrieved PWDs numbering about 30 said for some time now, they had not been able to access their three per cent share as stipulated by the laws of Ghana, making it difficult for them to pursue their education and embark on income-generation activities resulting in harsh living conditions.
Speaking to the Ghana News Agency at the Ashaiman Municipal Assembly (ASHMA), they indicated that even though they were invited to the Assembly by the Social Welfare Department to receive their monies after two years of applying, the said monies were not given to them after several hours of waiting.
According to them, the disbursement of the Disability Fund lacked transparency, indicating that they were highly disappointed at the treatment being meted to them under the guise that the Assembly’s bank account was facing some unforeseen challenges.
“I arrived here at 6:30 am this morning for the money but nobody attended to me, it was around 12 noon that they came to tell us that the bank account is facing some issues so, the cheques could not be issued to us, we then requested to see the Chief director but MCE showed up and told us that the money cannot be issued so we should go home, ” one of the disabled stated.
They appealed to government and other stakeholders to intervene to ensure that they got their money as most of them needed it to buy medications and necessities of life.
Mr Sitsofe Adzah, Unit head of the Social Welfare at Ashaiman, responding to the issue told the Ghana News Agency that the Disability Committee made a request for disbursement of funds to the 31 beneficiaries on May 6, 2020 after assessing their applications.
Mr Adzah, who is also the secretary to the Disability Committee, added that a list of beneficiaries was submitted to the Assembly for the names to be put on a letterhead for subsequent presentation to the bank for payment.
He noted that the beneficiaries were invited to receive their cheques on Friday after an agreement between the Chairman of the Committee and the Municipal Chief Executive.
When contacted Mr Courage Wormenor, the President of Ghana Federation of the Disabled, Ashaiman branch, who also doubled as the chairman of the Ashaiman Disabled Committee, refused to comment on the issue.
