Programme to empower PWDs to contest assembly polls underway
A project aimed at empowering Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) to contest the 2014 district assembly and unit committee level elections has taken off in the Adaklu and Agotime-Ziope districts of the Volta Region.
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The project will also engage the Volta Regional office of the Electoral Commission and district offices at Agotime-Kpetoe to ensure accessible voter registration centres and polling stations for persons with disabilities during the forthcoming district level elections.
According to the Director of Voice of People with Disability Ghana(VOICE Ghana), Mr Francis Asong, the project would also prompt the Electoral Commission to include more qualified persons with disabilities as registration and polling agents during the elections.
He said the project dubbed, “Persons with Disabilities call for Inclusive Governance,” was a $50, 000 advocacy project on democratic governance for persons with disabilities with support from Strengthening Transparency, Accountability and Responsiveness (STAR)-Ghana.
It was funded by the Department for International Development (DFID), European Union (EU), Danish Agency International Development (DANIDA), and United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
Mr Asong said majority of persons with disabilities in the country had no idea of how governance was conducted around them because they were largely unrepresented in local governance, and added that it was evidenced by the representations at the assembly and unit committee membership of several metropolitan , municipal and district assemblies (MMDAs).
He condemned the cultural practices and beliefs that portrayed disability in negative and ugly manner and commended the government for appointing persons with disabilities as ministers of state. He added that the government could do more by appointing more qualified persons with disabilities to serve on several capacities including diplomatic missions.
Mr Asong also called on MMDAs to consider the inclusion of qualified persons with disabilities as ex-officio members of their sub committees as well as government appointees in their respective assemblies.
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He also called on district assemblies to consider creating a disability caucus in their respective MMDAs to champion the developmental needs of persons with disabilities so that they could equally benefit from the provision of public goods and services and community development projects.