WA, Oct. 18, GNA - Fifteen communities comprising three thousand one hundred and fifty (3,150) households in three districts of the Upper West Region are benefiting from the Emergency Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (Emergency LEAP) programme The Emergency LEAP is a World Bank sponsored programme directed at providing direct cash transfers to households that were hard hit by last year's drought and the accompanying floods that created severe food shortages in the Northern, Upper East and West regions. Under the programme, a flat cash amount of fifteen (15.00) Ghana cedis would be paid to each affected household per month on bi-monthly basis starting from October this year and ending in February next year. Mr. Lawrence Azam, Coordinator of the programme who made this known to the Ghana News Agency at Wa, mentioned Wa East, Wa West and Sissala West as the beneficiary districts in the region. He said payments to the beneficiary households would be effected on October 16 and 17 at Yaala No 1 and 2, Baayiri, Ducie and Tanina in the Wa East District and Kandeu, Wechiau, Piisee and Baleufili in Wa West District.

In the Sissala West District, Tiwi, Jefisi, Kaalieoro and Kupulima are the communities that are benefiting from the programme. Mr. Azam said the programme was purely a humanitarian gesture that was intended to help poor and vulnerable people, many of who are children and nobody should therefore read politics into it. "Coming at this time in an election year, some people will want to read politics into the payments but we want to assure everyone that the programme has no political colours", he pointed out. 18 Oct. 08