EC makes provision for PWDs
The Electoral Commission (EC) has made the necessary provisions for persons with disability (PWDs) to actively participate in this year’s elections.
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With the slogan ‘For the people,’ the commission said all citizens were part of the electoral process, hence the need to make the necessary arrangements to facilitate the process for PWDs.
A member of the commission, Madam Saadatu Maida, made these remarks at a Disability Rights Fund (DRF) meeting in Accra.
The DRF is a United States (US)- based international grant maker which empowers persons with disabilities to advocate equal rights and full participation in society.
The three-day meeting brought together DRF grantees, civil society and donors to discuss projects and programmes funded by the fund, as well as national and international issues that impacted on PWDs.
Ghana is among other three African countries that benefit from the DRF.
Speaking on the topic: “Yet again another election: Harnessing-pre-and-post election process to support disability rights advocacy’’, Madam Maida said the commission was mandated to ensure that the right of eligible voters, including those of the vulnerable, were secured.
To address gender and disability issues with respect to elections, she said a disability desk to support disability advocacy and assist the EC had also been established at the commission.
Some of the measures
Outlining some of the measures put in place by the EC to make the electoral process easier for PWDs, she said majority of the polling stations were designed to make it accessible for PWDs who used wheelchairs and calipers to vote with ease.
Although she admitted that some polling stations were still inaccessible, especially the new ones, she said most of them were accessible and the EC was working to ensure that those polling stations were realigned.
In addition, he said PWDs and other vulnerable groups, were given preference treatment at the various centres educating them through various means on their rights to vote during elections.
“The EC ensures that persons with hearing impairment are provided a platform on TV screens in sign language to get them informed on election issues and activities,” she said.
Furthermore, she said the EC trained the visually impaired on the use of the tactile ballot system to enable them to vote without someone having to point or choose for them to thumbprint.
She said the PWDs were not exempted from playing roles such as presidential candidates, electoral voter educators and trainers in the electoral process, adding that PWDs had the potential to do that.
‘EC has been cooperative’
The President of the Ghana Federation for the Disabled, Mr Yaw Ofori Debrah, commended the EC for the efforts they had made to get PWDs to participate in the electoral process.
He said since 2000, the EC had been engaging the PWDs to ensure that they fully and adequately participated in the electoral process through various trainings and engagements, saying “the EC has been cooperative and very effective in getting us to vote.”
The federation, he said, also had a role to play to encourage its members to be confident and participate in all the electoral process, including the verification exercise.
The Programmes Officer for the DRF, Africa, Mr Medi Ssengooba, in his address, said the EC still needed to do more to include PWDs in the electoral process.