A social policy analyst has urged the government to as a matter of urgency, pay the allowances of beneficiaries of the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) to avert a total collapse of the policy and reduce poverty levels in the country. According to Mr. Alexis Dery, allowances for the 40,000 beneficiaries of the Scheme have not been paid since October 2010, worsening the plight of these already poor people. Speaking on Dwaso Nsem on Adom FM Friday, Mr Dery, who had conducted research in the three Northern regions as well as parts of Greater Accra to assess the impact of the programme, lamented that the non-payment of the allowances had the potential of reverting some of the gains the country had made in halving poverty. The Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty initiative was instituted by the erstwhile Kufuor administration in 2008 to provide money, Health Insurance and free schooling to orphans, vulnerable children and extremely poor households across Ghana. Implemented in March 2008, the programme was a success right from the beginning and was expanded by President Mills’ government in 2010. Currently about 100 districts nationwide are on LEAP coverage with about 40,000 beneficiaries and the allowances range from a minimum of GHS8 to GHS15. According to Mr Dery, although the cash aspect of the Scheme is not much, it at least helped the beneficiaries to move a step up the ladder to financial freedom. He explained that the Department of Social Welfare disburses the funds every two months and although they have completed their part of the work while various Ghana Post offices which distribute the monies have prepared their vouchers since October, nothing else has been done. He described the current situation as disturbing because of the negative impact it has on the beneficiaries while questioning whether it was simply an oversight or somebody was just not doing his job. Mr Dery also said it was unfortunate that LEAP is treated as a government allocation (for which it seems budgets are required) when it is a special programme. That perhaps, he said, may have accounted for the problems it is encountering. The former Deputy Minister of Employment and Social Welfare, Frema Osei Opare who also spoke on the show expressed surprise at the revelation that allowances have been unpaid all this while because, she said, the NPP administration left behind enough funds for the smooth continuation of the programme. Mrs. Opare, who was one of the key pioneers of the establishment of the Scheme, disclosed that during her tenure, she personally led a delegation to the United Kingdom to solicit for funds for at least four years and the British government approved about 6.2 million pounds for that purpose. She stated that the government should be blamed for the problems the programme is encountering and called for new strategies to raise funds internally to sustain it to help empower the people and improve their living standards. Source: Adomonline.com/Ghana