We need a Ministry of Disability Issues in the revised Constitution- Persons with Disability By Mohamed Faray Kargbo A cross section of the Sierra Leone Union on Disability Issues (SLUDI) has appealed for the creation of a Ministry of Disability Issues in the revised Constitution of Sierra Leone. The Disability Rights Group, one of the most active in the country, stressed that the enactment of such a statute would inevitably reduce the indiscriminate discrimination and stigmatization against persons living with disability. In an initial consultation with SLUDI by members of the Information, Education and Communications (IEC) Sub-committee of the Constitutional Review Committee (CRC) at their Tower Hill offices in Freetown on Tuesday September 30, 2014, the Group also appealed for the enshrinement of the National Commission for Persons with Disability into the Constitution. “The absence of the Disability Act in the Constitution leaves us at the mercy of the Powers that be, though it was created by Parliament, it can as well be dissolved by them. But a single clause in the Constitution guarantees us that the Commission is perpetual.” Noted SLUDI’s Secretary General, Mohamed Bangali Mansaray. With over 20 years of activism, the umbrella Disability Rights Organization stood a better chance of articulating the wishes and aspirations of their constituents not least because they were going through similar experiences. Little wonder they unanimously agitated for the extension of the Free Health Care and free education to all Persons Living with Disability. The destiny of 15% of the West African Nation’s 6 Million people hangs on a balance; their only hope is now firmly rooted in the outcome of the review process. The expectations of this vulnerable segment of society are high. Maybe higher than what their two representatives on the 80 persons CRC, Kabba Franklyn Bangura and Vandy Konneh, could deliver in a setting where votes determine decisions. Their abysmal absence in Governance positions speaks volume about the level of marginalization that disabled people suffer. They lack any iota of confidence that the only visually impaired Cabinet Minister; Mustapha Bai Attilla might not lose his position soon. Their only representative in the legislative arm of Government during the 2007-2012 Electoral cycle, Julius Nye-Cuffie, was denied the ruling party symbol in the 2012 Parliamentary Elections resulting in zero representation in the House of Representatives. As the review process unfolds, “a secured way of avoiding a recurrence of that unfortunate scenario is the provision of 5 safe seats for People Living with Disability in the revised Constitution,” they told the CRC. If any group of people saw the review of Sierra Leone’s 23 year old Supreme Law as an opportunity to overhaul their low socio-economic, political and cultural status, persons with disability are first among equals. Such is the desperation of their situation that their advocacy drive for the legislation of a specific quota on employment for persons living with disability in all Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) including the private sector would not be limited to urban but rural areas as well. No better institution could have adequately articulated the inadequacies of the visually impaired than the only Braille production institution in the Country, the Educational Centre for the Blind and Visually Impaired (ECBVI) pioneered by Thomas Allieu, himself a visually impaired person. An earlier consultation with them reinforced the issues already discussed. They couldn’t request for anything less than the funding of Special Needs Education including those for the visually impaired, sign language for the deaf and dumb and accessible educational facilities for the crippled. The demands of the disability community were numerous to be quantified in a single report. Suffice it to say that the task ahead of the two disabled persons at the CRC is huge.
Posted on: Wed, 15 Oct 2014 09:06:26 +0000
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