The Executive President of the Center for Employment of Persons with Disabilities (CEPD), Alexander Kojo Tetteh, has expressed concern over the misuse of Disability Funds, which are intended to support Persons With Disabilities (PWDs).
The District Assemblies are mandated to allocate three percent of the District Assemblies Common Fund to the Disability Funds for the welfare of PWDs within the districts.
The funds are meant to help PWDs establish businesses, cover medical expenses, and pay for education. However, Mr. Tetteh highlighted that the money is not regularly paid and is often insufficient.
Moreover, some district assemblies divert the funds for unrelated purposes, including waste collection, rather than using them to benefit PWDs.
In the past, the funds were lumped together with the Common Fund for the Assembly. Advocating for change, the CEPD championed the creation of separate accounts for the Disability Fund in all districts.
Yet, the power to withdraw from these accounts remains with the Chief Executive, Administrator, Coordinating Director, and the Accountant.
Mr. Tetteh revealed that investigations by Parliamentary Committees have confirmed the misappropriation of the funds.
Many disabled individuals have reported that their funds have not been received, but investigations have shown that the money was transferred.
In reality, it had been borrowed for other purposes, leaving the PWDs to suffer the consequences.
“Some of the district assemblies borrow the money for their activities; some borrow for waste collection. There have been Parliamentary Committees that have investigated and found out this” he added.
“Some of the disabled people sometimes go on demonstration that their monies haven’t come and the assembly tells them the money hasn’t been paid but if you follow up to the District Assembly Common Fund administrator you will realize that the funds have been transferred. So when you go deep then you will find out the money has been borrowed for other things and disabled people will be suffering” Mr. Tetteh lamented.