The Ghana Federation of Disability Organisations is asking government to fulfil commitment it made at the Global Disability Summit in Kenya in July, 2018.
The Federation says government, for instance, committed to ensuring that 1.5 percent of the Ministry of Education budget is allocated to inclusive education.
But its checks reveal only 0.3 percent has been allocated to that cause.
In July 2018, the Global Disability Summit, held for the first time, was aimed at galvanising global effort to address disability inclusion in poor countries.
The Summit, among others, mobilised various national commitments to disability and ensured a political will towards change and building a collective responsibility for the overall development of PWDs.
The government of Ghana, according to the Federation, made eight commitments which are awareness and sensitization, inclusive education, empowerment of women and girls with disabilities, technology and innovation, disaster and humanitarian assistance, review of legal framework, inclusive data and accessibility.
On review of legal framework, Chairman of the Advocacy Committee of the Federation Alexander William Bankole urged government to “revise the timelines for the amendment of the persons with disability act and its legislative instrument to a more realistic period as the time to which they committed has elapsed since December 2018”.
The Federation complained the Affirmative Action Bill does not capture the needs of PWDs, a reason why they pulled out of a campaign led by some civil society organisations to have Parliament pass the bill.
According to Alexander Bankole, the Bill should also capture women and girls as well as persons with disability.
He said they are still engaging with other “stakeholders to make sure the bill captures their needs”.
“The Federation remains committed and supportive of government’s policies and programmes towards achieving the commitments made in the supreme interest of all PWDs and their organisations,” he said, adding that in so doing, the Federation would use all legitimate means to monitor and track governmental actions towards realizing the commitments.
He, therefore, called on government to develop a road map towards achieving the commitments.
By Evelyn Tengmaa|3news.com|Ghana