Accra, March 10, GNA - The Deputy Minister of Manpower Development, Youth and Employment, Madam Frema Osei-Opare, on Monday said the introduction of the Livelihood Empowerment against Poverty (LEAP) was not charity but an investment for future development.

She said all other government interventions like the microfinance scheme to support persons with disabilities, cash incentives for persons with disabilities in the public sector as well as percentage of district assemblies fund to support initiatives of persons with disabilities fell under the National Social Protection Strategy and must all be seen as investment and not charity.

Speaking at the celebration of International Women's Day by the Women's Wing of the Ghana Association of the Blind (GAB) in Accra, Madam Osei-Opare said government would from this year, under the LEAP scheme, provide direct cash transfer to households with severe disabilities to support them and restore their dignity in the society.

She said the consequences of persons with disability, especially women, were serious due to their subjection to social, cultural and economic disadvantages which impeded their access to health care, education, vocational training and employment.

According to her, realizing the difficulties faced by persons with disability, government passed the Disability Act which seeks to recognize and mainstream the needs of persons with disability in the country's national development process.

In her message, the National Advocacy Awareness Raising and Lobbying Committee Chairperson of the Women's Wing of GAB, Miss Alimata Karimu said the rights of women and girls with visual impairment had been overlooked over the years.

She said they had been discriminated against by the society in general, not only because of the disability but because they were females and mostly among the poor.

Miss Karimu said the inadequate or total lack of access to information, health care and rehabilitation services further compounded by higher illiteracy rates forced them into being the most isolated and marginalized in the society.

She called for the inclusion of visually impaired women in mainstream policies and programmes, income generation activities and micro credit systems to address the challenges facing them.