An organization of persons with disabilities based in Kibera has called for the inclusion of Persons with Disabilities as Kenya joins the world in marking International Day of Persons with Disabilities.
In an interview with Ghetto Radio, Veronica Kyalo of Gifted Community Centre said that people with disabilities face violations of their rights.
“We reiterate that disability is a human rights issue. People with disabilities often face multiple violations of their rights, including acts of violence both physical and psychological,” she said.
According to Veronica, the infringement of their rights often intersects with other factors including age and gender.
She urged the both the national and county government to have a practicable policy implementation framework that will ensure PWDs are included in the job opportunities available.
“Counties have been getting away with the gap of inclusion of persons with a disability because the laws and policies are not clear. Most counties have not included persons with disabilities in the CECs or chief officers, and they have not complied with the five percent. More than half of the counties do not have MCAs who are persons with disabilities,” she added.
Ken Osika the programme manager of his year international day Nairobi chapter disabilities added that even though much had been done, there is still need to create awareness by engaging the wider societies to embrace inclusion.
“Much has been done but we are here again to fight ignorance and educate the societies through activities on inclusion, our aim is to build an inclusive society with zero discrimination on PWDs.
He further stated the intended awareness includes legal clinics to the persons with disabilities who are most vulnerable for gender based violence.
According to the national census conducted in 2019 2.2 percent (0.9 million) people out of over 50 million of kenyan demographics live with various forms of disabilities distributed in 47 counties.
In recent months a number of county governments were on the spot for allegedly failing to nominate person(s) with disability in the respective counties assembly
