The Execution of NPP's Promise by DPF to PWDs in 2024 and What Comes Next

Success is 6 years old. She is in KG 2 at a school in Kasunya, a village in the Shai-Osudoku District. She has a physical disability. She wants to be a medical doctor. Her teachers saw that she struggled to move around, and they asked for help. A wheelchair followed from a the Diaspoara Patriotic Forum (DPF). Now she can get to school and sit in her classroom in comfort. For many people a wheelchair is a small thing. For Success it is the difference between watching school from a distance and being in it.

The Diaspora Patriotic Forum (DPF) supported her as a donor. One wheelchair does not solve the problem, though. Success is one of many. Estimates of the number of Ghanaians living with disabilities run from over 2.1 million to about 2.8 million. DPF is a think tank was formed by conservative-leaning Ghanaians living abroad. DPF links Ghanaians in the diaspora, work with the New Patriotic Party (NPP), write policy briefs, give relief to vulnerable families, and run skills training for persons with disabilities (PWDs), including through our Shoes For Hope campaign.

In the 2024 campaign, DPF ran polls on the choice of running mate. One week-long poll drew 621 participants, reached through an online survey and by phone. When the Bawumia campaign named Dr. Joshua Makubu as coordinator for PWDs and Special Needs, DPF formed collaborative relationship with him and solicited resources from party members in the external branches in Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Africa, the Americas and Oceania to support Dr. Makubu's work. Sucess is one of the many beneficiaries of the donations socilicited from Ghanaians in the diaspora. DPF's activities are not limited to just NPP members in the external branches, but equally reaches out to all Ghanaians abroad, political and apolitical, on what they think of all inclusive Ghana. Including PWDs in major decisions, policy directions, stakeholder engagements and of course, political party campaigns should be the norm.

The NPP’s own constitution makes room for persons with disabilities. It provides for a PWD Coordinator on every constituency executive and every regional executive board, so PWDs have a defined route into party leadership close to home. Its aims commit the party to equal opportunities and inclusion for all citizens. The party has acted on this too. In 2024, it named Dr. Joshua Makubu, a former Oti Regional Minister, who is himself a person with a disability, to coordinate the campaign’s work on PWDs and Special Needs. DPF commends the party for these steps, and encouraged it to keep building on them.

Ghana passed the Persons with Disability Act in 2006. It gave owners of public buildings until 2016 to make them accessible. That deadline passed with no automatic penalty, and disability groups spent about 20 years pushing for a stronger law. The NPP’s 2024 manifesto quoted Dr Mahamudu Bawumia: “I want to build a nation that cares for and invests in the vulnerable.” For persons with disabilities, the party promised a new Persons with Disability Bill and a National Council upgraded to an Authority, with regional and district offices. It promised tax exemptions on assistive devices, 1,000 special needs teachers and a Free Tertiary Education Scholarship for PWDs. It also promised recruitment quotas in the public sector, incentives for employers who hire PWDs, NHIA cover for persons with albinism, and accessible public buildings and transport. The party also listed measures it said were already in place. These were a legal framework for the National Council, easier identification of PWDs through the National ID card, and a rise in the PWD share of the District Assemblies Common Fund (DACF) from 2% to 3%.

The NPP lost the 2024 election, so these are now promises the party would carry into 2028. The revised disability bill reached Cabinet in May 2026. In July, disability organisations asked Parliament and Cabinet to act without delay. It has not yet become law. The government says the PWD share of the DACF is now 5% and that free tertiary education for PWDs is in place. The Federation of Disability Organisations says about 1,500 students benefit. DPF welcomes both. DPF will judge the bill on three points. It needs enforcement powers, because the 2016 deadline showed what a date without a penalty is worth. It needs dates for access to buildings, transport and schools. And persons with disabilities must help draft it. The disability movement’s own slogan says it best: “nothing about us without us.”

DPF will continue to do its part through advocacy, research including opinion polls and donations. DPF will keep supporting skills training and assistive devices for PWDs, publish policy briefs on disability inclusion before 2028, and work with organisations of persons with disabilities. We will also push for accessible elections. Following our active role in organising PWDs for the party during the 2024 elections, we look forward to working in direct alignment with the NPP’s newly appointed PWD coordinators at national, regional and grassroots levels. We offer our proven organisational experience and strategic guidance to support these coordinators in fulfilling their mandate, strengthening party structures and ensuring impactful PWD inclusion.

In December 2024, a Ghana Blind Union official in Ashaiman told the Daily Graphic that PWDs felt ignored by political parties and electoral bodies. He asked the Electoral Commission to train PWDs on tactile jackets and other tools so they can vote without help. He also asked parties to make specific promises on accessibility. DPF supports both requests and will continue to advocate for it. Before 2028, the Electoral Commission, the political parties and disability groups should agree what every polling station must provide.

Beyond PWDs, DPF plans for 2026 and 2027 are simple. We will publish policy briefs on issues affecting the diaspora, run regular polls of our members, recruit more volunteers and build closer links with NPP external branches. Towards 2028, we will help mobilise Ghanaians abroad for the campaign and urge peaceful politics. The disability bill should not be a party fight. Whoever governs, persons with disabilities need a law that is enforced. Success will still be in primary school when Ghana votes again in 2028. Whether she gets the chance to become a doctor depends partly on promises like these being kept.

Lynda Twum – Ackah, DPF fellow and 1st Vice chairperson (NPP Ireland Branch) sharing her opinion on inclusive Ghana and how PWDs matter. More opinions would be solicited from other DPF fellows on how DPF executives NPP's policy direction towards the PWDs in Ghana and what comes next.