GULU-Gulu City Council has finally approved 23 groups for the national special disability grant in the next financial year that starts on July 1, 2022.
The national disability grant was made possible by an Act of Parliament to support persons with disabilities [PWDs] groups with start-up capital to fight poverty.
The fund was established in 2018 under the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development, with each group expected to receive a minimum of Shs 5 million depending on the enterprises.
However, four years later, the PWDs within Gulu City are yet to benefit from the livelihood support as the government did not consider them at the inception of some of the development projects.
On Wednesday in an interview with theCooperator, the Principal City Development Officer Ruth Buckley Monday revealed that 23 groups approved will share Shs 115mln.
She explained that the funds are expected to be released to the council in the next financial year to support the livelihoods of the PWDs in the city.
She noted that only groups from Laroo-Pece Division were approved while the council failed to find the money for the different groups in Western Division.
“At the time of the assessment, the central government had not released our money and so there were 20 more other groups from the Eastern Division that we couldn’t reach,” Buckley told theCooperator.
However, Jenifer Abalo, a resident of Alokolum Cell in Bar-dege-Laroo Division who suffers from visual impairment, noted they have already resubmitted their files to the division council.
The Gulu City Mayor Alfred Okwonga described the incident as unfortunate that the technocrats from the division failed to submit a number of files to the city council for approval.
“It’s bad that some of the groups are excluded from this support, but there is nothing we can do at the moment,” Okwonga added.
Meanwhile, the city council on Wednesday handed over Shs 6mln to four groups from the local revenue generated to support their different enterprises.
Each of the groups received Shs1.5mln. They include; Ngolo Mic Palacwec for animal production, Can Degmone poultry farming, Ngolo Pekoyo for making sweaters, and Peyero disability for produce dealers.
The Deputy Mayor Laroo-Pece Division Prosy Alworo Omal has asked the beneficiaries to invest in farming in the periurban areas to enhance their livelihoods.
Alworo explained that some areas still have a lot of land that are suitable for farming which can support coffee and other fruits growing like jack fruits and avocados with high demand.
https://thecooperator.news/gulu-city-misses-on-special-national-disability-grant/
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