Society for physically disabled pleads for increase in share of Fund

The Ghana Society of Physically Disabled (GSPD) has pleaded for an upward review of the District Assemblies Common Fund (DACF) allocation to its members.

The Reverend John Mefful, the National President, said the two per cent of the Fund they were receiving under the sharing formula was simply inadequate.

Making the appeal through the Ghana News Agency (GNA), he indicated that the small size of the amount coming to them was defeating the noble purpose the ‘disability fund’ was meant to service.

He said the idea that it would help them to start their own businesses to become economically self-dependent had largely remained a dream.

“What we are getting now, my sister, is not enough to set anybody up in business.”

The Rev Mefful said even with the paltry amount of money they were supposed to be given by the assemblies, some of them were not getting.

“In some instances when you apply for the money, it takes a long time before it is processed and we find this very frustrating”, he added.

He again complained about what he said was the lack of transparency in the management of the fund – how the disbursement was done, names and details of who received what.

The Rev Mefful also spoke against the situation where the assemblies channeled the disability fund into projects without their inputs and said that was completely unacceptable.

He therefore called for the government to take steps to streamline things to make sure that the fund became more beneficial to the physically challenged.

Source: GNA