A total amount of GH₵ 300 has been presented to Mr. Abudu Alhassan, a Person With Disability in the Tolon District as support to help him finance his campaign to be elected as an Assembly member of the Nyankpala South Electoral Area.

The amount, doled out by SEND-GHANA, a Civil Society Organisation was part of its campaign to help give voice to the voiceless.

The gesture was in line with SEND’s efforts to empower PWDs socio-economically and reintegrate them into the wider society to enable them to contribute their quota to social development.

A local Chronicle newspaper reported that, in Ghana, and the world over, Persons With Disabilities (PWDs) constitute an impoverished and marginalised group, characterised by lack of access to public health, education, and other social services that would ideally support and protect them.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), there are more than 600 million disabled persons in the world, of which approximately 80% live in low-income countries, and estimates that in Ghana, there are between 7-10% PWDs, representing about 1.55-2.2 million people.

However, the majority of PWDs live in abject poverty, because the state has not done much to improve their wellbeing, as they lack opportunities in education and employment among others.

“I feel great. It has boosted my campaign. I have been able to do more posters and my publicity is up,” says the aspirant, Abudu Alhassan.

According to him, he believes that the work he has done for the people in the Nyankpala South Electoral Area especially helping women group to access credit and his time as a volunteer teacher at Nyankpala DA Junior High School for a period of four years without pay, is enough to tell the world that he can do better for his community if he is elected.

SEND-GHANA last year launched its District Assemblies Common Fund (DACF) research report titled “Making the Two Percent of the District Assemblies Common Fund Work for Persons with Disability.” 

Wekem Raymond Avatim, SEND-GHANA’s Director of Livelihood Security Programme proposed that, the DACF can be used to support some of these campaign activities in order to give voice to the PWDs. 

“Making disability issues part of national planning is necessary for poverty reduction and national development. By getting them elected into the assemblies, Ghana will be achieving its aim of making equity meaningful to all Ghanaians regardless of your ability or inability.”

The call by SEND-GHANA for structures to be put in place to facilitate the proper use of the two per cent of the District Assemblies Common Fund (DACF) allocated to persons with disability (PWDs) is very apt and should be applied to the letter, he added.

Abudu Alhassan the aspirant says he was optimistic of winning the election to complement the efforts of city authorities in bringing development to Tunayili, Kukuonayili and Nasarun communities in the Nyankpala South Electoral.

Source-SEND-GHANA