As Christians across the globe celebrate this year’s Easter festivity with merry-making amid COVID-19 induced restrictions, the vulnerable in society are left out.
The pandemic has worsened the plight of the less endowed in the Ghanaian society who usually rely mostly on philanthropic support during such events.
The Member of Parliament for Ejisu in the Ashanti Region, John Ampontuah Kumah as part of the activities has reached out to 500 widows in four communities in the constituency.
The gesture is not only part of activities to mark the Easter celebration, but to also support the aged to complement Government’s Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) Programme.
The Ejisu MP used the occasion to give out pieces of cloth and cash to 500 widows at Fumesua, Ejisu, Onwe, and Kwaaso communities.
Mr. Kumah who spoke on the sidelines of a ceremony at Ejisu said “We are in Easter. Easter is an occasion of love when God gave his own son to redeem man from our sins. It Is a special occasion for me as a Member of Parliament to reach out to the widows in my community. So I selected 500 widows across the constituency to support them with clothes and some cash and also to wish them well in the year and to encourage them that I am aware of the numerous economic challenges, and we have so many programs lined up to help cushion the situation in our constituency”.
Although some of these aged widows are beneficiaries of the Government’s poverty alleviation program, LEAP, Mr. Kumah believes a lot more ought to be done to help the vulnerable in society.
He added that the increment of the number of beneficiaries who currently benefit from the LEAP may cover the needy in the society adding that he was designing programs that will complement the poverty alleviation program.
“Those of them that can trade, we have a special program to provide microfinancing. We give a minimum of GHS500 to support the micro traders amongst them”, he indicated.
The beneficiaries who were excited about the gesture thanked the Ejisu MP and asked for God’s blessings for him.
One of them, who could not hide her excited said: “We are so excited with what the MP has done for the widows within the Ejisu constituency and may God Almighty bless him. May God continue to bless him and give him the strength to do more in the coming years”.
Inhabitants of the communities in the Ejisu constituency are mostly into subsistence farming, with many of them falling within the low-income bracket.
