20 Persons With Disability In Asokwa Receive Tricycles.
A total of twenty (20) persons within the Asokwa Municipality Thursday morning received specially made tricycles in Atlanta,USA through the benevolence of the Deputy Minister for Trade and Industry, Robert Ahomka-Lindsay.
The gesture by the Deputy Minister forms part of his efforts to support NPP Members of Parliament (MPs) in communities where PWDs are in need of such tricycles to aid their mobility and work.
Speaking at a highly patronized ceremony at the Unity Oil Grounds in Atonsu, a suburb of the Asokwa Municipality, Mr Lindsay said having known the challenge of PWDs in Asokwa from the Member of Parliament, Madam Patricia Appaigyei, he and the Ahomka-Lindsay Foundation decided to help out.
These tricycles, he noted apart from aiding the mobility of PWDs also have spaces under the seats which could be used to transport light materials and items.
He urged beneficiaries to take good care of them so that it could last long for them in the work they do, adding this was some of the support packages the government of Nana Akufo-Addo could offer them as PWDs.
MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT:
Madam Patricia Appiagyei, MP for Asokwa thanked the Deputy Minister for the gesture and asked the beneficiaries to use the tricycles in such a manner that would aid the work they do.
She entreated persons in Asokwa who may be PWDs to register with the Asokwa Department of Social Welfare so that they could be identified for support.
Madam Appiagyei noted that apart from the common fund specifically allocated by government to PWDs across the country through the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAS), the departments often receive support from MPs such as her to aid their upkeep and work.
She noted that recently, her outfit provided support in the form of food items and clothing for PWDs to cushion them from the effects of COVID-19.
MUNICIPAL HEAD:
The Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) for Asokwa, Chief Akwannuasah Gyimah commended the MP and the Deputy Minister for such a collaborative effort.
The support the PWDs had gotten in the form of the tricycles, he noted would go a long way to relieve them from the difficulty in moving around and to attend to their places of work.
OTHERS:
Dickson Frimpong, Asokwa Municipal Director of Social Welfare and Community Development on his part noted that the gesture was timely.
He said the Assembly currently has about 335 persons with disability to cater for and support with items that would aid their work.
He therefore asked for more of such gestures from individuals and corporate organizations so that the Department could make the same available to these PWDs.
BENEFICIARIES:
Yahyah Mohammed, a middle-aged man and beneficiary expressed gratitude to the Deputy Minister and the MP for the tricycle.
He noted that at times the thought of waking up in the morning to attend to her chores become teary for him.
With no one to help out, Mohammed said he struggles to get to his work place which is inside the main Asokwa town.
Yaw Aboagye, a man in his late 50’s paid tribute to the Deputy Minister and appealed that such gestures be replicated in all communities in Ashanti to enable his colleagues to benefit from the same.
STORY BY MICHAEL OFOSU-AFRIYIE, KUMASI.