Business magnate Ibrahim Mahama has donated a sum of GHC 22,000.00 to visually impaired workers who have gone on retirement.
Immediate past president of the Ghana Federation of Disability Organisations (GFDO), Yaw Ofori Debrah has revealed exclusively to adomonline.com.
The donation is to support the cause of the pensioners with visual impairment to be able to come together, form an association and be able to advocate for their welfare.
According to Mr Debrah, he and his contemporaries face a myriad of problems once they proceed on retirement including the halting ‘guide allowances’ enjoyed while in active service.
Another problem, he explained, is the fact that by the time they are 60 years, their wards who often serve as their guides would have come of age and departed them to pursue other things of life, leaving them with no support at all.
Mr Debrah who is also a member of the African Union of the Blind (AUB) also added that while the decision to form an association has been a long-held one, they have been unable to do so due to lack of resources on the part of members.
“We pay double the lorry fare of what a visually able person pays to travel the same distance because in our case, we move in pairs because of our guides,” he explained.
It is for these reasons that the group has expressed a lot of appreciation for Mr Mahama’s gesture, saying it will clear the burden of members’ travel and other costs.
He said the group would use the funds to organize its maiden meeting where it will draw its constitution and officially inaugurate.