Counties across the country have been put on the spot for the lack of policies for the inclusion of Persons with Disabilities.
Speaking on Friday in Nairobi, CEO of the National Council of Persons with Disabilities Hassan Harun said that there are challenges with counties over PWD.
He added that the national government has initiatives that can access government policies while the county governments lack policies that govern Persons with Disabilities.
“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 per cent. More than half of the counties do not have MCAs who are persons with disabilities," he said.
The Persons with Disabilities Amendment Bill 2020 states that every county government should implement national policies for the protection and promotion of the welfare of persons with disability.
It also states that the county should allocate adequate resources to programmes for persons with disability and ensure that at least five per cent of the employment positions are filled by PWD.
He said that the lack of policies in counties makes Persons with Disabilities turn to the private sector for support.
“Because of the absence of policy, the business sector, and other players in the private sector is the best ally for puzzles, we need to look at it and go beyond the CSR. We need to put new initiatives on how we take opportunities,” he said.
Harun said that there is a need to have a mass registration of Persons with Disabilities to collect new and correct data.
“We realised that at our office, we didn't have a system that can capture enough socio-economic information about that person with a disability in every village," he said.
"So the system we created was more of that so that when you go to your village or work there's that click of the button that will tell you how many women are in a wheelchair.”
The Country Director of Light for the World Kenya Stephen Njenga said the private sector has an understanding of the value of what PWD brings to the business.
“The whole idea about bringing the private sector together today was to explore the value that people with disabilities bring within the business value chains,” he said.
“Today, the Kenya Private Sector Alliance, marked by very many players has signed a commitment to be inclusive in the business value chains, not to take disability in the context of tokenism.”
Light for the World in collaboration with Kenya Private Sector Alliance and National Council for Persons with Disabilities held a roundtable meeting ahead of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities.
The theme was innovation and transformative solutions for Disability inclusive development.
The collaboration of the private, public sector and the development sector is a step towards realising an inclusive society where disabled people participate effectively.
