Minister inaugurates Disability Board
The Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection (MoGCSP) has inaugurated a board of National Council on Persons with Disability (NCPD) to address the needs and challenges of persons with disability (PWDs) in the country.
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The 14-member body is chaired by the Executive Director of the Centre for Democratic Development, Professor Gyimah Boadi.
Other members are Dr Akwasi Osei, representing the Ministry of Health; Mr Sampson Nii Trebi, representing the Department of Social Welfare (DSW); Nana Yaa Agyeman, representing ShareCare, and Mrs Gertrude Oforiwaa Fefoame of Sightsavers Ghana.
The rest are Patience Opoku, Director of MoGCSP; Ms Emma Lilian Bruce-Lyle, a representative of the Federation of Persons with Disability; Father Andrew Campbell of Christ the King Catholic Church in Accra; Mr Max Varden, Executive Secretary of the National Council for Persons with Disability, and Mr Divine Y. Ayidzoe, representing the Ministry of Education.
The minister of the sector, Nana Oye Lithur, said the board was mandated to evolve policies and strategies to facilitate the participation of PWDs in the national development process.
In order to set the pace for the full mainstreaming or inclusion of persons with disabilities in the socio-economic development process, she said, there was a need for prioritisation of the council’s mandates and among those was the amendment of the Disability Act 2006.
The minister said the amendment would not only conform to the council’s international obligations under the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities but would ensure that the needs of the Ghanaian with disability were addressed in accordance with the new mandate given to the gender ministry.
She said there was also an urgent need to develop a plan to secure access to services where there was a communication challenge, in the case of persons with hearing impairment.
“We are also keen on the disbursement of the portion of the common fund allocated to PWDs and l, therefore, task the council to initiate investigations into issues surrounding the disbursement,” she said.
Ms Lilian Bruce-Lyle expressed appreciation on behalf of the board for the trust reposed in them and pledged their readiness to work for the benefit of the disabled in the country.