Accra-Ghana, June 26, GNA – Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia has cut the sod for the construction of a 9,000-home Integrated Community and Empowerment Centre for Persons Living with Disability (PWDs) at Agortor-Kope in the Ningo-Prampram District of the Greater Accra Region.
The Centre, known as the CEM Ability Village, is the brainchild of the Charismatic Evangelistic Ministry (CEM) through the Church’s Ability Village Charity.
It is to support and empower people with disabilities with skills training and specialist healthcare to promote their full participation in all facets of society.
Work on Phase One of the project would be situated on a 500-acre piece of land, begin immediately while the charity continues to solicit funds and equipment to undertake the entire project in record time.
At the sod-cutting ceremony in Accra, Vice President Bawumia lauded the leadership of the Church for conceiving and undertaking such a major project, saying it reflected the Church’s response to the call to help humanity.
“For many years, I have followed with keen interest your efforts in providing assistive devices, medical care, and other essential items for this vulnerable group across the country by organizing the “Day of Help” for persons with disabilities, which is commendable,” Dr Bawumia hailed Rev Steve Mensah and the leadership of the Church for the project.
The Vice President noted that people with disabilities faced a variety of social, attitudinal, physical, educational, transportation, and communication barriers in their everyday lives, which affected their full inclusion in the communities.
Those barriers resulted in negative consequences such as social exclusion, physical and mental health challenges, discrimination, stigmatization, low self-esteem, and financial difficulties.
He stated that persons with disabilities were more likely to live in abject poverty than persons without disabilities, noting that society’s actions and inactions continued to create barriers to their integration into the communities.
Therefore, it had become expedient to tackle these issues head-on with concrete actions that would deal with all these prejudices and barriers impeding the full inclusion of persons with disabilities into the community, he said.
“Hence, the CEM Ability Village shows that we do not have to wait for the Government to do everything. We are all responsible for our fellow brothers and sisters living with a disability.
“We all need to put our hands on the plow and work to remove all obstacles facing our brothers and sisters.
” Let us tap into our human nature and give out our resources to lift persons with disabilities from this quagmire of despondency,” the Vice President added.
“We have to do a lot as a government, and we are committed to addressing these challenges,” Dr Bawumia emphasized.
Vice President Bawumia, who is Patron of the Ghana Lepers’ Aid Committee and whose care and philanthropic activities with persons living with disabilities are well documented, pledged his commitment to the success of the project, and urged all to do same.
“I must admit that this initiative to support persons with disability is dear to my heart, and I will offer all the necessary support for realizing the CEM Ability Village,” he assured.
The Government, he said, would also do its part in the realisation of the project, saying, “Supporting the CEM Ability Village is our civic and moral responsibility. Let us all rise to the occasion for every life matter, and we should not leave anyone behind”.
He encouraged Corporate Ghana, the donor community, development partners, Associations and groups, religious organizations, and individuals to give generously towards that laudable project.
Madam Lariba Zuweira Abudu, Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection, thanked the chiefs of the area for releasing a large tract of land for the project and pledged the Ministry’s absolute support to ensuring its speedy completion.
The CEM Ability Village is programmed to be an inclusive and empowerment centre to help address some of the challenges facing persons with disabilities.
The Village would provide technical and vocational education and training and other skills training to address PWD employment challenges.
It would be made up of an ultra-modern hospital to cater for the specific needs of persons with disability, a health facility to serve as a referral centre for PWDs to provide restorative surgery, aids and appliances, training and serve as a research facility.
It would also include a Technology Centre to focus on software development and hardware assembly and repair, provide advocacy, counseling, guidance, and information services for persons with disabilities across the country.
