MPs urge government to empower PWDs or the disabled

Members of Parliament have reiterated the need for government to take steps to domesticate the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disability, PWDs and redouble efforts in empowering PWDs with the needed skills and opportunities to make life comfortable for them. 

The MPs stated this when the Member for Ablekuma West Ursula Owusu Ekuful made a statement on the Floor to mark the 10th anniversary of the passage of the Persons with Disability Act 2006 Act 715.
 
The law makers also advocated institution of quotas for the employment of PWDs in the public sector and provide tax and other incentives for the private sector to employ more qualified PWDs. 

The day serves as a platform to assess the impact of the disability law in the lives of PWDs and draw the attention of government and the general public to the gaps and lapses in the implementation of provisions in the law. 

According to Mrs. Ursula Owusu Ekuful some PWDs beg for a living not because they want to but because they have no other means of sustenance.
 
She said they deserve the right to live and work in dignity.

The Minister of Education Prof. Naana Jane Opoku Agyemang responded to claims that the new Day Secondary Schools being constructed by government are not disability friendly.

The Minister for Petroleum and MP for Ellembele, Emmanuel Amarh-Kofi Buah was among the MPs who associated themselves with the statement.

Attached audio is the MP’s submission on the Floor of Parliament to mark National Disability Day which falls on the 23rd of June every year.  

GBC