The County Government of Nyeri is working on regulations that will help operationalize the Disaster Management act and Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) Management act.
The Disaster Management bill became an act in 2021 while the PWDs management bill was assented to by Governor Mutahi Kahiga a year later.
The Department of Gender, Youth, Sports and Social Services, whose docket the two acts fall is currently undertaking a four-day- workshop to formulate the regulations before they are subjected to public participation.
Gender, Youth, Sports and Social Services CECM, Esther Ndung’u says she hopes the new regulations will among others provide a legal framework that will ensure the public and especially PWDs enjoy government services at all times and are devoid of any form of discrimination.
She observed that despite the two acts having been accented to since 2022, they had remained in limbo due to lack of necessary guiding legal framework.
“We already have an act for Persons Living with Disabilities which was accented to by our Governor during his first term in office. But for us to be able to actualize or implement you have to have a regulation to now guide the process. So, the regulations we are coming up with for the Disaster Management act and for the Persons with Disabilities Act are provided for in the act but now we have to come up with the regulations. So that is what we are coming up with,” stated the CECM while speaking to KNA.
Apart from providing the necessary guiding principles for the implementation of the acts, Ndun’gu said the drafters of the regulations will also entrench a working board that will ensure the law is adhered to.
The board which will incorporate stakeholders from all relevant agencies will further make sure PWDs are not discriminated against in terms of employment and mandate all public buildings to have facilities that are friendly to such persons.
“There was a proposal to establish a board and a proposal to ensure the rights of PWDs are looked into such as not being discriminated into the workplace and buildings coming up in Nyeri are accessible to PWDs. We also want to make sure that all employers come up with regulations, where PWDs are not discriminated and that if you become a PWD while you are employed that you don’t lose your job. Those are some of the regulations that we are coming up with,” added Ndung’u.
During celebrations to mark last year’s International Day of Persons with Disabilities, Nyeri Disability Network chairperson Kabatha Wanjohi faulted both the national and county governments for what he claimed was failure to install accessibility facilities in almost all public offices in the area, a lack that he says had continued to deny them accessibility to such offices.
He said it was disheartening to note that in the entire Nyeri town only a handful of private business premises had been fitted with ramps and lifts that PWDs could use while virtually all Government facilities lacked such amenities.
“Sometimes when we plan to have a meeting for PWDs but fail to get a venue which is friendly to us. Even the County Government offices, where the Governor resides and the County Commissioners office are all in storeyed buildings and when we need to reach these offices to access services there are no lifts which can aid us. In Nyeri we only have the National Bank of Kenya, the Law Courts and the White Rhino Hotel where we have lifts which we can use to access services,” he said, during the event whose theme was “United in action to rescue and achieve the SDGs for, with and by persons with disabilities.
Wanjohi had also called for County authorities to have an updated record for all PWDs residing in the area and lamented that a lack of proper records for PWDs had remained a hindrance in planning on how bona fide members can benefit from the government programs.
He had therefore appealed to Governor Kahiga to expedite the process of collating the data stating that this would help weed out unscrupulous persons from gaining unwarranted access to benefits meant for PWDs.
“We seriously wish to request the Nyeri County Government to map all Persons with Disability in Nyeri County because they are not known in number. In addition to having this group being mapped, it will help the county government to do its planning since it has the data it needs to cater for,” he had stated.
On disaster management, the CECM said some of the regulations the government is coming up with will ensure those responsible for addressing emergencies have a well laid down step by step framework on how to tackle such unforeseen eventualities.
“Disaster is a collective responsibility and it needs a multi-sectoral approach by various government ministries, agencies and also the private sector. It requires the measures that will be taken by the county government in case of a disaster or an emergency. Of course, we know sometimes we can have a disaster or an emergency that needs declaration from the president or the governor and after the disaster is over there is termination. So those are the steps we are taking,” she pointed out.
By Samuel Maina
