Parliamentary C'ttee Holds Forum On Disability Bill

Bolgatanga, April 4, GNA - The Parliamentary Committee on Employment, Social Welfare And State Enterprises on Tuesday held a one-day forum at Bolgatanga to solicit views on the passage of the Disability Bill currently before it.

Participants, mostly the physically challenged, expressed displeasure about what they regarded as discriminatory nature in the mode of employment, arguing that disabled people who had the same requisite qualification with their able-bodied counterparts were denied employment.

They also complained about the lack of accessibility to buildings and other infrastructure.

They appealed to NGOs who exploit disable persons under the pretext of helping them to stop such malpractices.

The Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Employment, Social Welfare and State Enterprise, Mr Paul Okoh, assured the participants that the House would expedite action on the Bill and that their views would reflect in whatever comes out finally.

He announced that before the passage of the disability bill, a programme would be put in place to ensure that within the next 10 years all construction works would include access structures for the physically challenged.

Mr Okoh expressed the hope that the intended law would give more employment to the disabled and provide special tools for them to enable them to function effectively.

The Upper East Regional Minister, Mr Boniface Gambila, who was the Guest of Honour for the occasion, blamed the delay in the passage of the bill to certain complications and irregularities which needed to be rectified to ensure that the disabled derived maximum benefit from law.