Ghanaians have been advised to continuously offer relevant support and assistance to their disabled relatives to take advantage of government’s interventions and other available opportunities for them to be useful to the family and the nation.

This, according to Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abrem (KEEA) Municipal Chief Executive (MCE), Nana Appiah Korang, would consolidate government’s efforts to meet the economic and other needs of PWDs to enhance their livelihoods.

The MCE gave the advice when he handed over items bought with the disability Fund for 45 PWDs in the municipality who individually made a request to the Assembly at Elmina.

The beneficiaries were supported with items including deep freezers, canopies and plastic chairs, cassava and fufu grinding machines, hairdressing tools, consumable provisions such as bags of rice and sugar, gallons and cartons of cooking oil at the cost of GHc201,898.56.

The beneficiaries, with different vocations such as hairdressing, farming, petty trading among others applied for support and the Municipal PWDs Fund Management committee moved in to support them.

They were also given training in financial management to help them manage their finances and to be able to run their businesses efficiently.

Nana Appiah Korang underscored the need to create an enabling environment to integrate people with disabilities into the socio-economic development efforts of the country, saying, “ people with disabilities can be useful to their families and the nation if we offer them the necessary support”.

According to the MCE, the disbursement of the PWDs share of the Common Fund to support income generating activities formed part of government’s interventions to ensure that every individual Ghanaian became self-employed instead of seeking for white colour jobs.

He noted that the recent mode of support from the government and the Assembly was making a significant impact compared to the previous system where monies were shared for beneficiaries who mostly misused them.

Mrs Benedicta Aba Mends Appiah, the Municipal Social Welfare Director said more than 300 PWDs in the municipality had been supported in areas of education, medical care, and business.

She said to qualify for support, applicants were vetted by a PWDs Committee, adding that for the year 2019/2020, a total of 170 PWDs applied for support out of which 76 qualified and the others left would soon be taken care of.

She, however, lamented about the fact that many beneficiaries either sold the items at a low cost or were unable to properly run their businesses.

In this regard, she said a team would monitor the use of the items by the beneficiaries to ensure the support offered them was not wasted.

Mr Frederick Arthur, Fund Management Committee Chairman and his Vice, Mr Michael Ocran took turns to address the beneficiaries and advised them to make good use of the items received.

They both commended the government and the Assembly for the continuous support and called on their members to use appropriate channels to address their grievances.