Doe Kwesi Williams, a disabled man in his 60s, crawls from his room to catch sunlight in his small home in the Volta Region. His wheelchair is broken, and his days are spent indoors, drinking green tea water to stave off hunger. Without any source of income, he relies on Ghana’s National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) as his only link to government social interventions. However, even this lifeline feels inadequate.
“I drink our local tea without sugar or milk to sleep because I don’t have money for food. But I know about all government social interventions,” he says, adding “I only benefit from the National Insurance Scheme, and even with that, I feel shy to use it. Whenever I visit the hospital, they ask me to buy medicines, which I don’t have money to buy, so I feel shy to go to the hospital.”
Williams’ plight is emblematic of a larger issue—Ghana’s social protection programs, such as the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP), often fail to reach the people who need them most.
In Dzolo, a small community in the Ho West District of the Volta Region, Assemblyman Mawufemor Adekpuitor has witnessed firsthand the gaps in Ghana’s social intervention programs. He points out that some individuals who appear capable of supporting themselves are beneficiaries, while the most vulnerable, like Williams, are left behind.
“The LEAP program is good,” Adekpuitor admits, “but some of the people on LEAP are not supposed to be there. As an assemblyman, I try my best to get my people onto the program, but in the end, the ones who really need it are left out.”
According to Adekpuitor, the cumbersome registration process also contributes to this exclusion. Many eligible individuals need more knowledge or resources to navigate the system, leaving them without support.
Since its establishment in 2008, the LEAP program has been one of Ghana’s largest and most widely accepted social intervention initiatives. It targets the most impoverished and vulnerable households and has expanded its reach over the years, with beneficiary households increasing from 116,000 in 2016 to 146,074 in 2017.
The program provides bi-monthly cash grants, with the amount determined by household size. As of April 2023, payments ranged from ¢128 for a single-person household to ¢212 for a household of four. Currently, as of its91st and 92nd cycles, households with one eligible member received GH₵512, two eligible members got GH₵608, three eligible members were givenGH₵704, and four or more eligible members received GH₵848. This is after two round of 100% increment in 2024. Eligibility criteria include having an elderly member (aged 65 or above), an orphaned or vulnerable child, or an individual with a severe disability.
To ensure accountability, the program ties cash transfers to specific conditions. For example, children must be registered at birth, attend school, and receive health check-ups. Vulnerable households are also encouraged to use the funds for health and education rather than other expenses. In 2015, the program was expanded to include LEAP 1000, targeting pregnant women and mothers with infants aged one year or less.
POLITICAL PLEDGES
As Ghana prepares for its 2024 general elections on December 7, social protection programs like LEAP have become a focal point in the manifestoes of the country’s leading political parties.
The National Democratic Congress (NDC), led by John Dramani Mahama, has proposed a comprehensive reform called the Big LEAP. This initiative aims to extend benefits to urban poor households, establish specialized projects for disadvantaged groups, and create an Emergency Response LEAP Grant Programme in collaboration with disaster management organizations. The NDC also plans to fund educational scholarships for children from LEAP households.
Meanwhile, the New Patriotic Party (NPP), under Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, has focused its proposals on protecting vulnerable groups, particularly persons with disabilities (PWDs) and the elderly. Central to their manifesto is the establishment of a National Council on Persons with Disabilities as a public agency, with regional and district offices to oversee the implementation of a proposed Persons with Disability Bill.
For the elderly, the NPP promises to pass an Ageing Act to improve care and expand social assistance schemes to cover those not currently included under LEAP. Other proposed measures include geriatric training programs, nursing homes, and elder-specific rehabilitation services.
Despite these promises, criticisms persist about the program’s inefficiencies, particularly its inability to consistently identify and assist the “truly poor.”
The issue of targeting the right beneficiaries remains a sore point for many. In an interview, Ama Serwaa, Policy Lead on Gender and Social Protection for the NPP, emphasized the role of digitalization in addressing these shortcomings.
“The LEAP itself is a great social intervention, but better targeting is always important,” she explained. “The need has arisen for a review at this point, and the key is digitalization. The National Household Registry has been working to chronicle low-income households. With this information tied to the Ghana Card, we can ensure LEAP reaches those who need it most.”
Serwaa also highlighted plans to link LEAP beneficiaries to scholarships and other support systems, ensuring a more integrated approach to poverty alleviation.
The Movement for Change, a newer political party, has also weighed in with its own proposal. Running mate Kwame Owusu Danso outlined a plan to provide monthly cash payments of ¢200 to vulnerable seniors, using Ghana Card registrations and mobile money disbursements.
“Our local offices will register individuals, and this process will be subject to renewal to maintain accountability,” Danso explained. “Our flagbearer is committed to personally overseeing these updates to ensure proper implementation.”
THE ROAD AHEAD
While each political party promises reforms, the reality for people like Doe Kwesi Williams remains bleak. Social intervention policies often sound promising on paper but fall short in execution. As the election approaches, many Ghanaians will watch closely to see which promises translate into meaningful change.
For Williams, and countless others like him, the hope is simple: that the next government will not just talk about social protection but make it a reality.
