The Ghana Federation of Disability Organizations has disclosed that there are state institutions that were yet to make their facilities accessible to persons living with disabilities.
Shockingly, the Federation says the Attorney-General’s Department where they are supposed to seek justice is not disability friendly.
Ghana’s Disability Law, 2006 (Act 715) was passed in 2006, aimed at ending the discrimination that faces people with disabilities.
The Act offers a legal framework to protect the rights of physically and mentally disabled persons in all areas of life, from education, training, and employment to physical access and health care.
It is also intended to promote the creation of an environment that will advance the economic well-being of disabled people and enable them to function better. But ten years after passing the Bill into Law, one would ask how it had been beneficial to the beneficiaries.
Parliament enacted the Persons with Disability Act 2006, (Act 715), which stipulates that within the period of ten years of the passing of the law, that is by 2016, those who provide services at public places must make it easy for PWDs, by providing appropriate facilities that make the place accessible to and available for use by them.
Consequently, the Act directed that from 2006, any other public or private building, to which the public will have access to, should be built to be accessible to and available for use by a person with disability.
Section 6 of the Act, states that “the owner or occupier of a place to which the public has access shall provide appropriate facilities that make the place accessible to and available for use by a Person with Disability.”
Section 7 of the Act also states that “a person who provides service to the public shall put in place the necessary facilities that make the service available and accessible to a Person with Disability.” Section 39 under the Miscellaneous Provisions of the Act indicates that “a person or institution which organizes a national, regional or district activity, shall as far as practicable ensure that facilities are made available for the participation in the activity by persons with disability.”
However, several public institutions have not adhered to the provisions, Kwame Mensah, the Programmes Manager at the Federation said on Frontline on Rainbow Radio 87.5Fm.
He posited that it was not only the A-G’s office that was disability-friendly including the Social Welfare Department.
He said only a few government institutions have obeyed the law.
“The majority of them are not obeying the law. Their offices are not accessible. When you go to the social welfare, the facility is not accessible. The A-G’s office is not accessible. So it even prevents us from accessing justice. However, there are some institutions both private and the public that have made their facilities accessible.”
He expressed GFD preparedness to provide technical support for all institutions that want to make their facilities accessible to their members.
By: Rashid Obodai Provencal/Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana
