Public Agenda (Accra)
Frederick Asiamah
1 September 2008
Accra — Since assuming office in January 2001, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government has thrown into the system a number of social protection programmes - the National Health Insurance Scheme, the Capitation Grant, the School Feeding Programme, the Agricultural Input Support, the Microfinance and Small Loans Centre (MASLOC), and the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP).
There is no shred of doubt in the minds of Ghanaians that each of the interventions has a specific purpose. In the case of the LEAP, government officials say it "will not only provide a 'spring board' to life or assist beneficiaries to break the back of their current socio-economic status by improving their livelihoods, but will assist them to access existing government and social services that will provide them buffer against various risks and shocks."
The initial payments of grants took place between the 17th and 20th of March, 2008 targeting some 2,000 people in 21 districts across the country. Over the next four years, estimated beneficiaries would include 15,000 households in 50 districts in 2009; 35,000 households in 50 districts in 2010; 115,000, households in 100 districts in 2011 and 164,370 households in 138 districts in 2012.
Officials have not hidden the fact that some beneficiaries could be taken off the programme anytime. The official website of the Ghana Government has information to the effect that "Beneficiaries will be assisted for a period of time between one and three years, depending on whether their situation, is improving and they are meeting household responsibilities. These households will be required to comply with certain condition while they remain on the scheme."
That is exactly the problem some human rights advocates have with the LEAP. In the first place, why give conditional cash transfers to people whom you describe as extremely poor (or the poor of the poorest)? In fact, Dr Dzodzi Tsikata, a senior research fellow at the University of Ghana, holds the view that conditional cash transfers (like the LEAP) give the impression that "the poor do not know what's good for them."
She also has a problem with the number of years over which the LEAP will run. According to her, against the backdrop of Ghana's poverty gap, the programme needs to run over at least 15 years to make the necessary impact of bridging the wide inter-generational poverty gap. She spoke at last week's 11th African Trade Network (ATN) Annual Review and Strategic Meeting hosted by the Third World Network (TWN) in Accra.
The poverty trend, as indicated by the Ghana Living Standard Survey (GLSS), which the Ghana Statistical Services (GSS) conducted, estimated that 40% of Ghanaians were poor. These were sections of the people who had the capacity to meet their basic nutritional needs but could not cater for additional needs such as health, shelter, clothing and education.
Besides, about 14.7 percent of the population are afflicted by extreme poverty and are unable to cater for basic human needs including their nutritional requirements and in addition suffer from inter-generational poverty. Also, GSS estimates in the GLSS, 2007 that there are 880,000 extremely poor households in Ghana representing about 18.2 percent.
This bracket of the population consists of the very ones the LEAP is targeted at. They are due a minimum of GH¢8.00 to a maximum of GH¢ 15.00 per household per month depending on the number of people who qualify in the household. Subsequently, these payments are supposed to be made every two months.
The orphaned and vulnerable children in society are included, as well as, extremely poor people above 65 years and persons with severe disabilities without productive capacity.
But there is the issue of who qualifies. Looking at some of the conditions with the lenses of an extremely poor person, they seem quite intimidating. You are to enroll and retain all school going age children in the household in public basic schools; all members of the household must be registered with NHIS and be able to produce a receipt in the absence of a card.
In addition, new born babies from eight to 18 months must be registered with the Birth and Deaths Registry; attend required post-natal clinics and complete the expanded programme on Immunisation. Lastly, a potential beneficiary must ensure that no child in the household is trafficked or engaged in any activities constituting the Worst Forms of Child Labour (WFCL).
Unthinkable! Take the northern part of Ghana, for instance, where settlements are so widely scattered and access to health posts is so difficult, it will be difficult to get an extremely poor person to attend post-natal clinics or even avoid parents pushing their children into WFCL. For sure, you are defeating the purpose of taking people off poverty.
Dr Tsikata believes that Ghana and indeed many other African nations have arrived at this point where they have to use cash transfers to fight poverty because the various development models they pursued failed to address human development.
Though she did not think the LEAP was unnecessary, she held the view that cash transfers alone will not address the inability of the poor to access basic needs and services.
Thus she urged caution on the part of state officials who were negotiating the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) to ensure that whatever human development is factored decision they arrived at. In general though, she was not in favour of the EPAs.
Mr. Gyekye Tanoh, an official of the TWN, wondered why the economy was growing and yet poverty levels were rising at the same time.
On the sidelines, however, many will be watching to see how the LEAP works out to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and also the Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy (GPRS II) to reduce poverty to the barest minimum by 2015.
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