Hasten implementation of Disability Act - CDD

Bolgatanga, April 19, GNA - The Centre for Democratic Development (CDD)-Ghana, on Thursday appealed to Parliament to hasten the implementation of the recently passed of Disability Act.

Mr Abdul Wahab Musah, Programme Officer of CDD-Ghana, made the appeal at a public education seminar on the Disability Act, organised for the disabled in Bolgatanga in the Upper East Region.

He, however, commended Parliament for the passage of the Act, but stressed the need for its implementation without further delay. The abridged version of the Disability Act published by CDD-Ghana was also launched at the ceremony.

Launching it, the Programme Officer explained that most statutory publications were very voluminous and that past experiences indicated that most Ghanaians found such technical materials very difficult to digest.

Mr Musah also noted that there were many instances where copies of Government legislations were not made available to the general public. Based on this, he said CDD-Ghana took the initiative to come out with the abridged version of the Disability Act to enable the people to understand it and to increase public awareness on the rights of People Living With Disability (PWD).

Mr. Jeduah Mohammed Abudu, a lawyer, entreated the disabled to study the Act extensively and be abreast with its provisions to enable them to fight for their rights.

He took the participants through topics including the immediate, medium and long-term implementation of the Act and appealed to them to use the concept of advocacy, lobbying, reasonable litigation and the formation of pressure groups to champion their cause. He condemned the situation where children born with disabilities were being isolated and maltreated by some parents and said the Act condemned such practices.

Mr Abudu said the Act also condemned instances where some people exploited the disabled as a means of amassing wealth and indicated that such persons when caught would be dealt with according to the law.