SEND Ghana: Incessant delay in LEAP payment disturbing

The government’s consistent delays and irregularities in disbursing funds to beneficiaries of the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) is gradually eroding confidence in the policy, SEND Ghana has said.

The civil society group said the government’s inability to effectively communicate the rationale behind the delays is not only unacceptable but also defies the principle of good governance and accountability.

LEAP is one of government’s flagship social protection programmes that provide bi-monthly cash payments to poor households in all districts of the country. In addition to the cash transfer, LEAP offers free registration in the National Health Insurance Scheme.

Currently, 344,023 households benefit from the cash grants

In a statement on Thursday (24 February), SEND Ghana said: “The incessant delays in payments mean these households have been denied basic household consumption and nutrition, which eventually leads to a decrease in access to healthcare and education.”

Since November 2019, multiple LEAP payments have been delayed by more than two (2) months due to budget allocations not being disbursed on time to the LEAP Programme to effect payment to the beneficiaries

All the six payments accrued for January – December 2021 were delayed, with the cycle payment for November 2021 currently outstanding for three (3) months and that of January 2022 also overdue. These delays have resulted in major disruption of income to 1.5 million poor and vulnerable Ghanaians

This unfortunate development undoubtedly questions government’s commitment towards social protection and often decreases public confidence in the entire policy.

SEND Ghana said the government must ensure funds to beneficiaries are disbursed on time, adding that any further delays will undermine Ghana’s effort Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

“Moving forward, Government (Ministry of Finance) should ensure that grants are transferred to the appropriate agency on time, who will also ensure that beneficiaries receive their grant on the due dates.”

“We wish to conclude that our collective efforts in attaining the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, hunger, and reduce inequalities by 2030, would be pointless if we allow needless infractions to undermine impactful social protection interventions such as LEAP,” it added.

Fred Dzakpata

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