Mitigate suffering of PWDS at tollbooths

It is not for nothing that the country enacted the Persons with Disability (PWD) Act, 2006 (Act 715), for it had been realised that our less-privileged brothers and sisters had been neglected and not well-catered for by society.

That situation had compelled many of them to go onto the streets, begging to fend for themselves.

The situation is not so in other parts of the world where the vulnerable and the weak are the most protected and cared for in society. The vulnerable in those societies receive all the care and support they need to make life reasonably comfortable for them.

Unfortunately, despite the more than 10-year moratorium on Act 715, Ghana is yet to witness the full implementation of the provisions of the law, including making public buildings and facilities accessible to all PWDs and providing equal opportunities for them.

The Daily Graphic was excited when, in 2017, the government came up with a policy to give 50 per cent of all employment opportunities at the 35 tollbooths across the country to PWDs. The initiative, according to the government, was to empower the PWDs, in line with the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government’s manifesto promise.

The government kept its promise and engaged the first batch of 74 PWDs in April 2017, with a promise to bring others on board. The failure to implement the policy to the letter saw the removal of the Tolls Manager at the Ghana Highways Authority, Mr Emmanuel Spencer Baah, over “his disregard” for the directive to employ PWDs as tollbooth attendants.

But three years down the lane, we have another sad story that the salaries of PWDs stationed at tollbooths across the country have been in arrears since September last year.

The Daily Graphic wonders why, as a country, we can be so insensitive to our own in such a manner. How do we expect the PWDs to commute from their homes to their duty posts and back? How do they fend for themselves and their families?

We find the explanation by the Tolls Manager, Mr C. D. Antwi, that it was not only PWDs that had been affected but that all workers at the tollbooths were facing the same situation, untenable. We cannot be that mean to ourselves.

The Daily Graphic implores all institutions which have a role to play to mitigate the suffering of the vulnerable to sit up and ensure that their needs are well catered for.

PWDs need our support and encouragement to rise up above their physical challenges to also support in nation-building. After all, disability is not inability. We have a role to play to make life a better place for them as well.