The Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection has put in place measures to delete ghost names from the payroll of the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) programme.

Mrs Cynthia Morrison, the Sector Minister, made this known when she led officials of the Ministry to pay monies to 209 LEAP beneficiaries at Agona Kwamang and Lower and Upper Bobikuma in the Agona West District of the Central Region.

She said reports reaching the Ministry said relatives of dead beneficiaries continued to receive monies without informing the Ministry’s Social Department, which passed on such persons for payment.

Mrs Morrison, who is also the Member of Parliament for Agona West, said the Ministry had initiated a programme known as “Homecare” and would recruit young people to visit LEAP beneficiaries, especially the aged, to monitor their existence and report to the Social Department.

She appealed to assembly members and community leaders to cooperate with the youth, who would undertake the deletion of the ghost names from the LEAP payroll, so that more vulnerable persons could benefit.

The Minister said the Government was making efforts to restructure the LEAP so that people who were able and active would not be included in the programme, adding that the programme was for the vulnerable in society including the aged, women and infants.

Mrs Morrison called on churches, financial institutions and well-to-do Ghanaians to support the LEAP to enhance the living standards of the poor.

She advised caregivers who received monies on behalf of families not to misappropriate the funds, but use it to take good care of those in their care, especially the aged.

The 209 beneficiaries in Agona West received monies ranging from GHC64.00 to GHC106.00.

Nana Anno Akyanfo, the Gyantuahene of Agona Kwamang, expressed gratitude to the Government for sustaining the LEAP programme, which had improved the lives of the aged and orphans in the society.

He commended the Gender Minister for her tremendous efforts to improve on the lives of the poor in Agona West.

He called on the people to rally behind the Government for more social interventions to reduce poverty, hunger and diseases.