Former Migori Women Representative Dennitah Ghati has called upon the national and county governments to act on enforcement of the Persons with Disabilities Bill of 2021.
The Bill is aimed at realizing the rights of PWDs in Kenya and outlines the societal responsibility to protect and promote them.
Section 19(2) of the Bill requires an employer to make adjustments during the recruitment process and the employment relationship.
In particular, the Bill seeks to oblige employers to reserve five percent of their employment opportunities for PWDs both in the public and private sectors.
Ghati who was also a nominated Member of Parliament Representing People with Disability in the 12th Parliament said that by enforcing the five percent job employment meant for people with disability, the PWDs stand a chance to enhance their social and economic empowerment in the society.
She also added that the legal requirement for women, youth, and persons with disabilities to access 30 percent of Government Procurement Opportunities has also not been met, especially among the PWDs.
Based on the latest annual report of 2023 by the Public Service Commission, Persons with Disabilities constitute just 1.4 percent of all jobs in the public service.
The former legislator questioned both the two levels of government’s lack of willingness to engage and enforce the five percent saying that PWDs were tired of living on handouts.
“We want to empower the disabled in our society to enable them to cater to the needs of their families”, decried Ghati.
She added that what the PWDs need is employment and other opportunities presented to other normal persons both at the national and county levels but not sympathy from the public.
On the issue of defilement, Ghati called upon the local authorities to protect the PWDs from the social evils of rape and defilement to safeguard their dignity.
She urged the local administrative units and the security agencies not to tolerate Kangaroo courts that the majority of communities were using to address the PWD’s defilement and rape cases.
“Let those men that have engaged in the social evil by defiling our disabled children face the full force of the law to give justice to the affected parties,” bewailed Ghati.
By Geoffrey Makokha
