OWEN: Reflecting on the journey of PWDs in Kenya

According to the 2019 census, 2.2 per cent of Kenyans (translating to 0.9 million people) live with some form of disability. The truth of the matter is that in life you are either a person living with a disability or a person who interacts with people living with a disability.

Recently we marked World Disability Day, which provides an opportunity to reflect on the long journey we have trekked and the journey ahead.

The Persons with Disabilities Act was signed by President Mwai Kibaki in 2003, becoming the first law in Kenya’s history pertaining to disability.

This landmark enactment was followed by a process of reviewing the laws to ensure they conformed with the 2010 Constitution, which began in 2014.

The Persons with Disabilities (Amendment) Bill, 2020 gives special focus on the human rights approach towards the realisation of the rights of persons with disability by giving effect to Article 54 of the Constitution.

It also seeks to grant the National Council for Persons With Disabilities more powers to carry out inspections and recommend prosecution of those who violate the rights of PWDs.

The Bill was passed by the National Assembly and is currently before the Senate.

Despite the progress made, we still have a long way to go to improve the socioeconomic status of PWDs.

We need increased infrastructural and personnel support in schools so students with disability can be accommodated and perform better. The NCPWD offers educational support to students with disability but the demand is overwhelming.

We need more financial support offered to students with disability. The Kenya Kwanza manifesto pledged to have 15 per cent of public-funded bursaries going to students with disability. We need this implemented as soon as possible.

The recently introduced Hustler Fund offers hope to PWDs and will enable them to acquire the requisite tools of trade to improve their economic conditions. A quota of this fund should be dedicated specifically to PWDs.

Medical bills have been a strain on our community for years. We call for the government to be intentional in onboarding PWDs to the NHIF scheme to cushion them from the economic strains that come with catering for their occasional medical issues.

As PWDs, we call for the enactment of legislation that accords persons with permanent disability permanent tax exemption to avoid the pain and embarrassment of having their applications reviewed every five years.

The NCPWD is doing a splendid job of addressing the needs of PWDs. However, the council’s budget falls short of this ballooning demand. For instance, the estimated development budget is Sh200 million that is intended to serve all persons with disability by issuing assistive devices, education, economic empowerment, etc. To put it in context, the development budget the council receives is equivalent to what two constituencies used to get under the constituency development fund.

A great challenge experienced by persons with disability is the lack of financial products tailored to their unique status that they can access to process the tenders awarded to them.

The NCPWD has a new LPO financing programme in partnership with KCB Bank, which provides zero-interest loans to businesses owned by persons with disability. There is need for more funds to assist more clients, and sensitisation to institutions on the ability of persons with disability to do a good job when given a chance.

What PWDs need is not pity but equity. The Constitution allocates five per cent of employment slots to persons with disability. Despite this, PWDs continue to be excluded from the workplace.

A study by the Public Service Commission showed that PWDs made up a meagre 1.8 per cent of the workforce. We call on the government to take a keener look into this to grant persons with disabilities job opportunities to serve.

We are grateful for all the milestones made so far but are cognisant that we still have a way to go in achieving equity for PWDs in Kenya.

Artist