Mandera PWDs to Ruto: Include us in your administration

Persons with disabilities in Mandera have appealed to President William Ruto to include them in his administration.

They said they continue to be faced with a myriad of challenges.

The PWDs said having some of their own holding key positions would go a long way in addressing the challenges they faced.

In a statement, led by Hafid Maalim Ibrahim, the chairman of PWDs Mandera, they said that during his deliberations with the group, President Ruto had expressed a keen interest in incorporating PWDs in his administration to uplift the marginalised but that was yet to be done.

“As PWDs, we played a key role in convincing officials and members of the National Council for Persons with Disabilities (NCPWD) that UDA was best positioned to champion their rights,” he said.

“We believe our efforts contributed largely to the support the party got from this group. During your deliberations with the group, we believe that we are well-positioned to contribute to nation-building and the actualization of your vision.”

They further called on Parliament to come up with legislation that will compel the government and private companies to reserve certain positions for the government to Partner with private companies to put in place a certain position that can only be applied by PWDs.

Hafid said that they have individuals with the requisite skills, experience and knowledge to run ministries, parastatals, and other government agencies if given a chance.

He said that for the President to succeed and have his plan implemented, then he must have employees who are committed to serving Kenyans equally and without engaging in any vices like corruption.

They further called on the county governments to come up with a special scheme that will cover PWDs' access to healthcare saying, some were severely incapacitated and sick and could not afford treatment because it was expensive.

In his inaugural speech, President Ruto highlighted some of the programmes he intends to roll out for PWDs.

Among them, was creating a women's development fund to support women entrepreneurs by providing them with credit facilities and assisting them to market their produce.

He also promised to implement affirmative action programmes to enable PWDs to realize their full potential.

Such programmes, he said, will include giving preference to PWDs in terms of employment.