Executive President of the Center for Employment of Persons with Disability (CEPWD), Mr. Alexander Tetteh has admonished that Ghana is not getting the development it should have because the country has not been treating the vulnerable people well.
He expressed worry over how persons with; the aged, disabilities, orphans, widows, and the likes are not treated well in the country that is endowed with all the natural resources needed for social and economic growth of its citizens.
Mr. Tetteh condemned how about 500 persons with disabilities who lost their livelihood as toll collectors after the cessation of toll collections on the roads have been neglected by the ministry of roads and highways despite the promise to reassign them to other sectors of the ministry.
Leader of the former toll collectors, Rashad Mohammed Rahmat also revealed that one of their female colleagues committed suicide because she was saddled with debts and couldn’t bear the shame and pressure.
The Executive President of the Center for Employment of Persons with Disabilities has also described the construction of the national cathedral as a misplaced priority by the government of Ghana.
“Obedience is better than sacrifice. You have disabled people, down-trodden people who are suffering, who don’t have food to eat and the money to use to buy food for them. You say you are buying brick and mortar, and breaking grounds to build a national cathedral for whom to come and worship in it?” Mr. Tetteh questioned
According to him, it is more godly for the churches to come to the side of the vulnerable because if the churches can come together to contribute money to build a cathedral, then they should come together and help establish livelihood for the vulnerable in the society.
“Even those who are coming to worship, if they don’t eat, how do they go to worship? Can’t we worship God in our homes? Won’t God listen? God no longer lives in houses built with human hands. God lives in us. If I am able to live well and pray to God, he will listen and bless this nation but if I am here and I am hungry and I am wailing, don’t you think he will bring curses to our nation?” he lamented
Mr. Tetteh told Helen Appiah Ampofo on the 3FM Sunrise Morning Show that he is afraid things are going to get tougher this year and especially difficult for persons with disabilities living in Ghana.
“The year is going to be very difficult for everybody, especially persons with disabilities. We are going to face it seriously. It means the kind of life we are having now which is difficult is going to be more difficult and it looks very scary and I don’t know what strategies that government has for the marginalized. Even the common fund for persons with disabilities is not well managed” he feared.