Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection Nana Oye Lithur has disproved reports that the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) pro-poor programme is on the verge of collapsing.

Speaking on Onua FM’S morning show ‘Ye Sempa’, the Gender Minister noted that it will be factually incorrect for anybody to claim that LEAP is collapsing when the same program is adjudged the best performing social intervention for 2016 with an A+.

“Those who are saying LEAP is not doing well cannot be right,” she said. “In fact that programme has been ranked A+ so how can someone sit somewhere and claim that LEAP is collapsing. It is not true.

We have turned our social intervention programmes around and they are all doing remarkably due to collective effort from us,” Nana Oye Lithur told Bright Kwesi Asempa. An economist and lecturer at the Kumasi Polytechnic, Thomas Kusi Boafo, is reported to have said government is smothering Ghanaians with what he called ‘killer’ policies, which will eventually cripple the economy.

According to him, all indicators attest to the fact that the economy is getting worse every day saying policies like LEAP are being used by the incumbent government in maximizing votes.

Mr Kusi Boafo added that it is dangerous for government to inject monies into LEAP, noting the number of beneficiaries surpasses the working class of the country. But Gender Minister insisted that all social intervention programs under the ambit of her ministry have seen one form of improvement or the other.

“As we speak, since we took over the School Feeding Programme from the Ministry of Education, government has been able to save close to GH¢24 million as a result of our sound policies we have started implementing, workers under the School Feeding now are being paid electronically and this has eradicated malpractices.”

‘Yes, I am strict’ On widely held view by many that she is strict with those she works with, the human rights lawyer said: “Yes they are right, I am strict with what I do, and that is what is giving us the results, turning around performance of the Ministry and I am happy to tell you that so long as the Ministry is delivering on its mandate, I will accept that assertion”.

She maintained that due to what people considered as her strictness, school children who are on the School Feeding Programme can now enjoy good meal, those who are beneficiaries of LEAP are now being served promptly, those in orphanages can now smile and prisoners can now hold NHIS cards and the aged as well can now enjoy free rides and good health care, “so yes I am going to be strict,” she added.