Accra, Dec. 16, GNA – The Ghana Federation of Disability (GFD) has called for the full implementation of the various policies, laws and international treaties on Persons With Disability (PWD).
The Federation noted though there were several anti-discriminatory legal provisions to protect the rights and dignity of PWDs and ensure that they had safe space to fully contribute and participate in the developmental agenda of the country, enforcement had been weak.
Mrs Selina Kwakye, a representative of GFD at a press conference with support of Foundation for Security and Development in Africa (FOSDA) on Thursday, in Accra, said PWDs constituted about 10 percent of the total population of Ghana but they were the most marginalised and at greater risk of poverty and inequality all over the various sectors with young people living with disabilities denied equal space to participate meaningfully and equally in decision-making processes.
“Being both young and disabled, makes people even more marginaliSed and often denied their right to have their voices heard, taken seriously and recognised and in Ghana, the structural governance space within the public and private space have not sufficiently accepted that youth with disability have the capacity to meaningfully contribute to policy discourse and implementation.”
Mrs Kwakye said the Federation was, therefore, calling on government to recognise the role the marginalised section of the population played in society and implement policies that would enhance their livelihood.
“GFD and its partners recommend that government increases the budgetary allocation to the special education unit of the GES to 1.5 percent, provide all relevant teaching materials and learning aids in assessable formats, and make sign language learning compulsory and part of the curriculum up to the Senior High School and for all teaching and learning institutions.”
She said government must also ensure that newly built youth centres had rehabilitation and assessment centres for training and re-training for PWDS, change the Health Insurance Policy Act to include drugs that were used constantly by PWDs, and make space for youth with disabilities to be included on boards and other committees at the district, regional and national levels.
“Government must also provide job registration centres for unemployed PWDs, make justice delivery accessible to PWDs, ensure road contractors change from practicing open drainage to a close drainage system, and all buildings are friendly by making accessibility audit to check compliance to inclusive standards, and engage all to create awareness and education on negative socio cultural and religious practices,” she added.
Mrs Kwakye noted that all those demands were already mentioned and provided for by laws and international treaties and prayed for the commitment to implement them to enable PWDs fully integrate into society and participate in all governance processes.
Mr Solomon Okai, Programme Officer, FOSDA, said the lack of inclusive human resource policies, especially in local companies, posed significant challenges to the opportunities of employment for PWDs in the sector, adding that cultural and religious barriers also contributed to the absence of disability-inclusiveness at the workplace.
He said after Ghana passed the Persons With Disability Act (715, 2006), the government issued a 10-year moratorium to ensure all public buildings were accessible to PWDs but it was yet to be implemented.
“For this to be achieved, the youth must harness community action for improvement, launch into public awareness activities to undo the existing cultural barriers, including stigmatisation.”
Mr Okai said PWDs were members of the broader community, and that the campaign would encourage the broader community to ensure that facilities were available to everyone, including PWDs.
He said young people must yearn for a society where inclusion was built into the school curriculum and work and that they must grow up having embraced the fact that disability actually meant “differently-abled”, and owners of offices, shops, playground equipment and transport systems must also ensure their facilities were accessible to PWD’s.
“The responsibility for achieving an accessible community does not just rest with PWDs, it rests with all of us. PWDs are not heroes and victims and they must not fight to live normal lives.”
Mr Okai urged the GFD to strengthen coordination among all the disability unions, providing regulatory oversight, by working closely with Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), and other relevant state institutions to ensure compliance with the existing legislations and benefits due PWDs.
Article 12(2) of the 1992 Constitution of the Republic of Ghana guarantees the fundamental human rights and freedoms of the individual, including PWD.
Article 29 spells out the rights of PWD and in pursuance of the constitutional provisions of the Republic, a National Disability Policy was formulated in 2000 and the Disability Act (Act 715), enacted in 2006.
GNA