Mandera Governor Ali Roba yesterday launched Sh45 million programmes for people living with disabilities.
The multi-sectoral programme is also expected to improve social protection for the youth, women and vulnerable people.
Roba said it is high time that people living with disabilities are treated with dignity and respect. He spoke during the launch in Mandera town.
“Today marks another milestone as we launch initiatives of more than Sh45 million to create income generating opportunities for our people and to cushion the most vulnerable including orphans from difficult living conditions,” Roba said.
He said the national and county, governments, development partners, civil society and the private sector need to work together to promote the rights of people with disabilities.
“This will assist the county and the country as a whole in achieving sustainable development goals, which set out a vision of a world that is fully inclusive of people with disabilities,” the governor said.
He said different special groups comprising women, youth, children, persons living with disabilities continue to benefit from strategic programmes aimed at improving their social-economic lives.
The county’s interventions include 65 houses with toilets worth Sh48 million, 116 vulnerable families selected across the county received 10 goats each worth Sh7 million, assorted household items for the beneficiaries of the 65 housing units worth Sh2 million.
For persons living with disabilities, the county has provided them with mobility kits ranging from motorised and manual wheelchairs to tricycles worth Sh4 million.
They also received income generating equipment that include 135 sewing machines and 11 freezers.
Roba said the people living with disabilities should be given more attention so that they can feel accepted by the community.
The governor said stigma among people living with disabilities in Northeastern region remains high with most parents opting to hide their children by keeping them indoors.
Roba said it is unfortunate to see people discriminated on the basis of their physical appearance and even shunned. The governor said it only serves to further make them feel unwanted in the society.
“It unfortunate that our society has not fully accepted people living with disabilities. They are human beings just like any other. It is God who created them like that,” he said.
(Edited by P. Wanambisi)
