Regional News of Saturday, 25 July 2015

Source: GNA

Flood victims benefit from LEAP

A total of 6,131 victims of the June 3 flood and fire disaster which hit the Greater Accra Region, have been earmarked to benefit from the emergency Livelihood Empowerment against Poverty (LEAP) progrmme.

Nana Oye Lithur, Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection, announced this during the maiden presentation of the emergency fund of GHC100 to each of the 1,277 victims at Odorna Circle in Accra, on Friday.

She said each of the victims would be given a total of GH¢300, and that, the amount would be disbursed in three tranches in July, August and September 2015.

The sub total include Circle Odorna with 1,277victims, Gbegbesie (433), Glefe (681), Osu (802), Ashaiman (910), Teshie (657), Tema (835), Nungua (438), Kaneshie (170) and Adenta (318).

She said the GH¢ 300 to each of the victims, which had been put on e-zwich cards could be withdrawn from any bank, was to cushion them and take care of their basic needs and small businesses, which were destroyed as a result of the flood.

She said the Western, Volta and Central Regions were regions where flood victims would also benefit from the GH¢ 4 million Government had earmarked for the emergency LEAP programme.

She noted that although, the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) had already distributed relief items to the flood victims, the monetary assistance was to help them take care of their financial needs.

Nana Oye promised to consult with the management of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) to seek how best they could register victims who lost their NHIS cards to the floods.

The Minister also visited Adabraka Sahara, a suburb in Accra, where a similar exercise was taking place for the flood victims in that locality.

In an interview with the Ghana News Agency, Naa Koshie Nartey, a confectionery seller at Circle, who was a recipient, expressed her appreciation to Government for the amount, as it would go a long way to help her immediately resurrect her business.