50% of toll booth staff to be persons with disability – Roads Minister-designate

Roads Minister-designate Kwesi Amoako-Atta says if approved by Parliament he would ensure staff employed to man the various toll booths across the country are infused with persons with disability.

He promised to negotiate with contractors operating the toll booths to employ about 50 percent physically challenged persons.

“It is one sure way of giving them [persons with disability] employment,” he told members of Parliament’s Appointments Committee Wednesday.

Ghana has initiated efforts to mainstream Persons with Disability (PWDs) into the National Social Protection Strategy and Poverty Reduction Interventions after years of outcry by the Federation of Disability Organisations (GFD).

The Persons with Disability Act, 2006 (ACT 715) enjoins government to defend the rights of PWDs and improve their living conditions, but the GFD said they are not happy with the efforts so far.

The Federation accused government of being the number one violator of the law which it was supposed to protect. It said the blatant manner the law is being breached impedes access to economic, education, healthcare and employment opportunities by PWDs.

Pro-PWDs non-governmental organisation, Voice of Developing Communities (VODEC) had appealed to the Roads and Highways Ministry in 2013 to employ their people to work at the various toll booths.

However, much progress has not been witnessed in this regard. With an impeccable record of fighting the cause of PWDs in Ghana, Mr Amoako-Atta said he would complete his unfinished work.

“If Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) should go the memory lane and they have any means of preserving the item, I was a campaigner for physically challenged people when I was the Presiding Member for Atiwa,” he said.

“I was always calling for a greater recognition and advocated that the toll booth should be ceded to that Federation,” he added.

He told members of the Appointments Committee that he would ensure future road contracts signed by government have employment package for PWDs.

Story by Ghana | Myjoyonline.com | Austin Brako-Powers | [email protected]