The Ministry for Gender, Children and Social Protection, has announced that it is extending the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) programme to families of the Obogu crash victims.

These victims were returning from a church congress in Koforidua when their car crashed killing 16 children, who were natives of Obogu in the Asante Akim South Municipality.

Dr. Agnes Naa Momo Lartey, the Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection, made the disclosure during a visit to Obogu, where officials of the Ghana National Household Registry had begun collecting data from about 600 households to assess the needs of vulnerable persons, including families affected by the crash for possible inclusion on the LEAP programme.

She explained that the support was necessary to help victims recover and regain their livelihoods.

According to her, affected families have also undergone trauma counseling sessions as part of the case management and recovery process.

The aim of this intervention is not just to mourn with the bereaved families but to ensure that their lives do not become worse off or too vulnerable because of what has happened, Dr Lartey stressed.

The Minster indicated that families who fell within the poverty line after the needs assessment would also be supported under LEAP to ease their hardships.

Dr. Lartey commended the President for assenting to the Social Protection Bill into law, describing it as a major step towards strengthening interventions tailored to benefit vulnerable groups in society.

Dr. Agnes Naa Momo Lartey also outlined interventions rolled out by her Ministry to support vulnerable victims of the land dispute in Gbiniyiri, a farming community in the Sawla-Tuna-Kalba District of the Savannah Region.