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District assemblies should ensure strict compliance with the guidelines on the disbursement of the Common Fund and release monies allocated to the physically challenged on time, Mr Samuel Sarpong, Kumasi Metropolitan Chief Executive, has said. It is mandatory for the assemblies to give five percent of their share of the Common Fund to support those with physical disabilities. Mr Sarpong pleaded with his colleague District Chief Executives to see to it that people with disabilities were assisted to engage in economic activities to reduce poverty among them. He said this in a speech read for him at a ceremony to mark the International Day for Disabled Persons in Kumasi on Thursday. December 3 is a day set aside by the United Nations (UN) to create awareness about the need to shun discrimination against people with physical disabilities and promote their well-being. Mr Sarpong said it was important to give attention to disability issues by providing disabled persons with the opportunity to improve on their living conditions. "What they need is not our sympathy. Let us give them the opportunity to lift themselves out of poverty." Mr Yaw Attakora, the acting Ashanti Regional Chairman of the Ghana Society of the Physically Disabled, said they were in the process of launching a project to reach out to all children with disabilities in the region. They would identify their special needs for support, he said.