
Charles Oware-Tweneboah, the Fanteakwa North District Chief Executive, presenting a deep freezer to Teiko Teye, a 65- year-old woman

The District Chief Executive (DCE) for Fanteakwa North in the Eastern Region, Charles Oware-Tweneboah, has assured People With Disabilities (PWDs) in the district of government’s support to earn decent incomes.
He, however, urged them to put the items they receive to economic use for their benefit.
Mr Oware-Tweneboah gave the assurance when he presented various items to 28 PWDs at a short ceremony on the Assembly’s premises at Begoro, the district capital.
Twenty people received items including deep freezers, sewing machines, Korea Towels, hair dryers, baking ovens, bags of rice and oil, tomatoes grinding machines and cocoa spraying machines, all amounting to GH¢62,054.
The other eight recipients, made up of five males and three females, received cash for health and education, which also amounted to GH¢14,000.
Mr Oware-Tweneboah advised the PWDs not to see themselves as people who cannot do anything meaningful to fend for themselves.
Decent living
“You are all capable of doing something meaningful that will earn you decent living, and, therefore, I am happy that you chose the items you want to help you earn your own living and that is exactly what the government has brought on board for the past seven years it started this programme,” he said.
He told them many of their predecessors who received the items some years earlier sold them, adding that this kind of attitude did not help them as they continued to wallow in poverty after spending that money.
He said the government would continue to do more for PWDs if it had evidence through monitoring that all of the recipients were putting the items to good use.
Mr Oware-Tweneboah stressed the need to be particular about maintenance culture, which he said many Ghanaians lack.
He said from the previous monitoring of items presented to the PWDs, it was discovered that most of them did not maintain the items they received, adding “It does not speak well of them as individual recipients and your group or batch should not copy that bad example.”
The Fanteakwa North District Director of Social Welfare and Community Development, Godwin Amoakohene, entreated the recipients to cultivate the habit of saving some of their returns.
He explained that during the Assembly’s monitoring since the programme started seven years now, it came to light that most of them, if not all, had not saved anything against their future.
He advised them to open bank accounts, and make savings to secure their future, saying they stand the chance to even get loans from the banks or credit unions, as well as their association.
One of the recipients, Benson Saakwa, on behalf of his colleagues, thanked the Assembly for what he termed “gifts” for their livelihood.