Rev. Fr. Andrew Campbell, S.V.D., Chairman of the Lepers Aid Committee and Parish Priest of Christ the King Catholic Church, Accra, has called on the state through the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection (MoGCSP) to speed up the process of placing inmates of Ankaful (Central Region), Kokofu (Ashanti Region) and Nkanchina (Northern Region) Leprosaria on the Livelihood Empowerment against Poverty (LEAP) program.
Rev. Fr. Campbell made the appeal at the celebrations of the World Leprosy Day, 2020, which is observed on the last Sunday in January at the Eyindakrom Leprosarium, located near Cape Coast in the Central Region of Ghana.
During the celebration, members of the Lepers Aid Committee commissioned a mechanized water treatment plant also known as a borehole for the leprosarium.
On the matter of the LEAP program, Rev. Fr. Campbell said that “this is something we have to follow through to make sure that you (the cured lepers) are on the LEAP program. It is the least we can do for you, to make sure that every month you get some subsidy from the government.
Rev. Fr. Campbell told the inmates that “any occasion I keep on asking the Vice President to the Ministers of State to increase the money, because Ghs 30 a month ($5.38), which is Ghs. 1 a day ($0.18), is not very much. So I will keep on asking to increase it to more than GHs 1 a day for you. I will continue to fight for you so that more is added to the GHs 1 to help you to live.
Rev. Fr. Campbell further said to the inmates that “even those in prison get food worth Ghs 1.80 every day and they are thereby force, and here you are in a place like this and it is not your fault that you have leprosy, and you get less than they (prisoners) get. You should get more, so we will keep on pressing the government to give you more than Ghs 1 a day.
Fr. Campbell thanked everyone who supported to put a smile on the faces of these less fortunate ones in society. He asked for God’s blessings on them and encouraged all to continue supporting and fighting for the less fortunate in the society.
Source: Andy Manomey//Radio Angelus
