Ghana Federation of the Disabled (GFD) has raised concerns about what they say is the misuse of their two percent share of the District Assembly Common Fund (DACF).
They blamed the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assembly (MMDAs) of misappropriating the fund meant for the welfare of disabled people in their area.
President of the Federation, Yaw Ofori Debrah expressed this frustration at a workshop to discuss the implementation, disbursement, management and the monitoring of the District Assemblies Common Fund organized by the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA).
He blamed the MMDAs of flouting the guidelines which explicitly states the provisions for the disbursement.
Mr Debrah described as worrying the unclear guidelines, disbursement and utilization of the fund by district executives makes it difficult to evaluate what the districts are doing with the funds meant for disabled beneficiaries.
“The provision provides that the MMDAs separate accounts for the 2% of the DACF at each MMDAs. Formation of a disability fund management committee comprising a representative of the local Ghana federation of the disabled” he added.
Mr. Ofori Debrah said the disabled in the country resort to begging on the streets due to untoward hardships they face in their daily lives.
“Persons with disability are the vulnerable in the society and as such needed to be well-taken care of to reduce poverty among them and to improve their standard of living” he bemoaned.
For his part, the Executive Director of the Media Foundation for West Africa, Sulemana Ibraimah called on the MMDAs to use their share of the common fund to alleviate poverty among persons with disability.
He stressed that the “two percent allocation is supposed to go into activities that will support our brothers or sisters who need some level of special support.”
Mr. Ibraimah also urged the media to focus more on the issues concerning the disabled and champion their cause.
