Persons with special needs can live normal lives – Andy Okrah
The Deputy Ashanti Regional Minister, Mr Andy Okrah, has stated that persons with special needs can be made to live a functional and normal life if they go through the right mentoring and coaching.
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Mr Okrah made the statement on behalf of the Regional Minister, Mr John Alexander Ackon, at the worship for Persons with Special Needs organised by the Seventh-Day Adventist Church (SDA) at Kwadaso in Kumasi under the auspices of the Northern Ghana Union Mission (NGUM).
He said persons with special needs may not be necessarily poor or needy but their conditions might inhibit them from being functional in society.
He said the government was bent on providing social protection for every person in the country and pointed out that “we all can get into the condition of having special needs either through an accident or long illness.”
He reiterated the need for all to join hands with the government in integrating persons with special needs into the social system of the country, especially in church activities.
Commendation
He commended the SDA Church for the initiative to satisfy the needs of persons with special needs and appealed to other churches to invest in areas that provided congenial and supportive environment for persons with special needs, stressing that the creation of the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection was a manifestation of the government’s commitment to the care of the less privileged.
Again, he said interventions such as the LEAP Programme and allocation of the two per cent of the District Assemblies Common Fund (DACF) to persons with special needs and efforts to implement the Disability Act 715 (2006) to protect the rights of persons with special needs were all part of the manifestation of the government’s desire.
Contribution of quota
Both the Assistant to the President for Special Need Ministries at the General Conference (GC) of the SDA, Dr Larry R. Evans, and the Vice President of Family and Special Needs Ministries at the West-Central Africa Division (WAD) of the SDA Church, Dr Stephen H. Bindas, in separate remarks, emphasised the need for the church to contribute its quota to society by continuing with moves to cater for the welfare of persons with special needs.
The Supervisor of the Deaf Ministry, Pastor Henry Afoakwa, admitted that the establishment of the Deaf Ministry by the SDA Church was a sign that the gospel message had gone far.
The President of the NGUM, Pastor Dr Kwanin Boakye, commended the leadership of the Deaf Ministry and gave an assurance that the NGUM would through both WAD and GC improve upon church initiatives for persons with special needs at all times.
