Implement UN Convention on Rights of Persons with Disabilities

A former Executive Secretary of the National Council of Persons With Disabilities (PWDs), Mr Max Vardon, has called for the implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) and its optional protocol.

He said this had to be done without further delay even if there were some limitations withholding the implementation.

He said any challenges with resources could not be an excuse to further delay implementation because issues of disability permeated facets of the society as some people were born with disability or it could occur through accident, disease or aging.

Mainstreaming of convention

Mr Vardon made the call when he delivered a lecture at a workshop in Ho for district and municipal development planning officers aimed at mainstreaming the CRPD into the Medium-Term Development Planning (MTDP) and budgets of the assemblies.

It was on the theme, “Giving Disability a Centre Stage in Development Plans of Local Government” and funded by the Disability Rights Fund of the United States of America (USA). 

The workshop was organised by VOICE Ghana, a disability-friendly organisation, in partnership with Local Governance Network (LOGNet) and Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition (GACC).

Mr Vardon said the rights of PWDs had been taken for granted although these had been enshrined in the Constitution, adding that the environment was amenable to everybody in the community.

He, therefore, charged the planning officers to make a difference in the world of disability because everybody was affected by it.

Mr Vardon said society changed as expectations and technology changed, and that emerging capabilities and disabilities were an evolving concept, adding that the priority now was to ensure the inclusion of all in development endeavours.

In an address, the President of VOICE Ghana, Mr Francis Asong, said development planning officers should always consult disability groups in the districts when they formulated their plans.

He also said it was essential to seek the views of the people but not a call for the extraordinary.

Engagement with NDPC

Mr Asong disclosed that the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC) was to be engaged with the view to advancing the issues pertaining to inclusion, participation, non-discrimination and accessibility of PWDs.