Ministry to ensure accurate data on beneficiaries of market fire assistance
The Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection (MoGCSP) has reiterated its commitment to ensure the provision of accurate data on beneficiaries of money that was given to victims of the various market fires which occurred last year.
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“While mindful of the myriad of challenges and the daunting task faced by the ministry in the execution of this task, it would be highly unprofessional and totally irresponsible to disregard the use of accurate data in a national disbursement of this kind,” it said.
The ministry was reacting to a publication in the February 12 edition of the Daily Graphic captioned: “Market fire victims unable to access funds to support them”, which said “some of the traders at the Kantamanto Market in Accra said they had not been told of the specific reason why they had not received their money ”.
The report quoted a close source at the Stanbic Bank as saying that “about 6,370 traders out of the 7,381 who registered to access the funds had received their money because their details were valid, while the remaining 1,011 had not received it because of incorrect account numbers and names”.
According to the ministry, in order to ensure that the GH¢2 million earmarked to support the victims was effectively disbursed to the actual fire victims, it had compiled a list of the affected traders, registered and verified the data of victims. It also said eventually, 6,370 traders received GH¢300 each as support from the government and added that contrary to the Daily Graphic’s assertion that some traders had not received their money, those with data discrepancies in name, bank details and identification had been given the opportunity to rectify them.
The statement said the various market leaders at Kantamanto, Dome, Makola and Kumasi Central set up help desks for this purpose from October 2013 and many of the traders who had such challenges had their data rectified and subsequently received their payments, adding that interestingly, those claiming not to have received payments had not provided accurate data.
In a related development, some market leaders from the affected markets who benefited from the government’s intervention have expressed their gratitude to the government for coming to their aid.
According to them, they had experienced a lot of fire outbreaks but this was the first time a sitting government had shown interest in their predicament.
The leaders from Kantamanto, Agbobgloshie and Tema Station, who visited the MoGCSP to show their appreciation for the support given them, said they appreciated the enormity of the work in distributing the money to all affected traders, and expressed the hope that those who were yet to rectify the anomalies in their data would do so in order to benefit from the support.
The market leaders who went to the ministry were Mr Samuel Amoah, Chairman of the Kantamanto Traders Association (KTA); Mr Opoku Afreh, Chairman of the KTA Communication Team; Madam Mercy Needjan, President of Greater Accra Market Association; Madam Margaret Ankamah, Secretary of New Makola No.2 (Agbogbloshie); and Mr Justice Tetteh, Chairman of Tema Station Traders Association.