Do not give up physically handicapped child – Former President Mahama told parents

General News of Monday, July 15, 2019

Source: Graphic.com.gh

2019-07-15

Former President John Dramani Mahama has asked parents of children with physical disabilities not to abandon them.

He said people with disabilities are as important as people with disabilities and need more attention and education to make them largely independent in the future.

Mr. Mahama added that people with reduced mobility were not looking for sympathy, but rather for the opportunity to reach their full potential.

The former president said this at the launch of the Ability Village project of the Ministry of Charismatic Evangelistic (CEM) in West Legon, near Accra on Sunday.

CEM Ability Village

Steve Mensah (3rd from right), president of CEM Ability Village, launches the CEM Ability Village project. Ms. Cynthia Morrison (right), Minister Responsible for the Protection of Women, Children and Social Welfare, Reverend Mrs. Jane Mensah (2nd from right), Former President John Dramani Mahama (2nd from left) ), Reverend Stanley Mensah (left), member of the CEM Village Project Committee and other dignitaries. Image: Maxwell Ocloo

The $ 85 million village project on 2,000 acres of land in Ningo, Greater Accra, will be a residential and empowered community.

It will provide health care and social services, as well as education and training, as well as improved economic activities at an estimated cost of $ 85 million.

The charity will mobilize resources from international donor organizations, professional organizations, multinational institutions, consulates and foreign missions, governments, religious organizations, non-governmental organizations and philanthropists.

Mr. Mahama noted that 10% of Ghanaians were people with disabilities, some of whom were born and others who had acquired it at some point in their lives.

"Do not think that people with disabilities are born naturally with a disability and that we, all sitting here, could become so at any point in life, so we should reject the stigma we attach to it," he said.

Intervention

Mr. Fred Nuer, CEM Ability Village project director, said the core of the badociation was promoting the rights of people with disabilities and meeting their specific needs through impact-oriented solutions. .

It will enable people with disabilities to live a more fulfilling and dignified life in society, to help them eliminate stigma, raise awareness of their needs and provide the services they need to integrate into society, did he declare.

Mr. Nuer noted that people with disabilities had been neglected, as evidenced by the lack of adequate policies and projects that could help them become economically active, which had plunged them into poverty, the vast majority of them being poor. 39 between them living in isolation and a deplorable state.

He also mentioned that people with disabilities could not easily access services, public buildings and transportation, while some disabled children were unable to go to school with the unlucky ones murdered because they were perceived as shaming their family.

Mr. Nuer said that in accordance with the Disability Act of 2006 (Law 715), the Ministry of Charismatic Evangelism was taking a giant leap in initiating the "Ability Village Project" project in order to put in place social and economic interventions aimed at removing all obstacles to the full achievement of the objectives. potential of people with disabilities.

"We are taking this step and we need partners to help us in this quest. The jump is crucial, but with your support, we will achieve this goal, "he added.

Ministry of Gender

Ms. Cynthia Mamle Morrison, Minister of Women's Affairs, Children and Social Welfare, said that it was generally true that disability issues were not receiving the required attention, but that this time, his department would do its best to support the project.

She advised families with disabilities to love them and to consider them as one of their own and to be proud of them.

He also encouraged parents and guardians to educate their disabled children, as they would become their family's livelihood.