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Ghana Federation of Disability Organizations (GFDO) yesterday, descended heavily on the Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection, Nana Oye Lithur, for what they described as gross disrespect for the Persons With Disability (PWD).

This was because the Minister failed to turn up at a planned meeting between herself and the PWDs, thus leaving them on a rainy day to their fate, a situation that did not go down well with the group.

The Minister, who many described as hardworking and caring, could not give a little of her time to meet the Persons with Disability to listen to what they had to say.

“If it was Montie 3 petition, she would have gotten time to sign. When she was running an NGO, she was all over the place fighting for the right of persons with disability, but she has not been available after becoming a minister,” they stated.

Interestingly, even though members of the group were also persons with disability, they were not invited to the launch of that programme. No reason was, however, given.

After waiting desperately for over an hour, without the arrival of the Minister or her deputies, the Executive Director-GFDO, Mrs. Rita Kusi Kyeremah told journalists: “we agree with the police to meet at the ministry to present our petition. But later the police changed the route and told us to meet at the Hearts Park.

“Unfortunately, we have been here for a while, the Minister is not coming and we don’t know what is happening and so I think that, the appropriate decision is for us to go the ministry.

“Yes, we may be going there because it is raining, we have been here and we are not seeing anybody from the ministry.”

Commenting on why the group, which included the Association of the Visually Impaired, the Hearing Impaired, as well as those who had challenges in walking, had to walk from Liberia Road to the Hearts’ Park to present the petition, the Executive Director explained that, the association was becoming furious because government was not paying attention to their plight.

“We don’t have reasonable accommodation for persons with disability, when I say reasonable accommodation, I am talking about the kind of adjustment that could be made to ensure that the environment, the services and the opportunities are accessible to persons with disability, so that’s why we are walking to present our petition,” she remarked.

She explained that the association has petitioned government to review certain aspects of the disability law, but had received no attention.

“This has been done about a year ago, but we haven’t seen anything. We have seen that disability issues are not receiving adequate attention in Ghana because we pass laws and we end up ignoring or overlooking issues concerning persons with disability,” she added.

She alleged that, those who had taken it upon themselves to ensure that government include issues of persons with disability in its policies, end up receiving “something little” to deter them from pursuing the agenda, adding that disability issues have become after-thought in national policy development, national planning and all our development processes, describing it as ‘discriminatory’.

When asked what their next line of action would be, she had this to say, “Well from today, we hope that we will be able to manage or present the petition and then we are giving government up to the end of the year, before we take the next action.”

It was at this point that a deputy Minister of the Ministry, Mrs. Dela Sowah turned up at the Hearts’ Park to apologize to the PWDs, who surprising hooted at her, chanting “Shame! Shame!! Shamed!!!

Explaining why her boss was unable to make it to the meeting, the Deputy Minister said Mrs. Oye Lithur was at the same time chairing a programme to launch a national campaign on disability friendly public place.

Responding to the petition, the Deputy Minister noted that “coincidentally today we are launching the signing of the Act 2006 and then a step also will be taken to ensure that the provision of the Act is practicalized. So as you are doing it, we are also doing it. It means that we have the same intentions. All of us are working towards persons with disability.
“To be honest with you, you yourself are aware that you are a very dear group to us as a ministry and to the government as a whole. Several things have been done by this government to ensure that livelihood for you have been improved.

“However, the steps that you have also taken or the gaps that you have identified, we will work on them and see how we can work together with you to fill those gaps.”

Currently, government had increased employment of persons with disability by 3% and had registered over 52,000 of the members on LEAP.