EC commended for including mentally disabled in BVR

The Mental Health Society of Ghana and BasicNeeds on Friday commended the Electoral Commission (EC) for making provision for persons with mental disability to take part in the biometric voter registration exercise.

“The news is particularly heart-warming as it comes at the heels of the passage of the Mental Health Bill and the ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disability,” the two bodies said in a statement issued to the Ghana News Agency in Accra.

The statement was jointly signed by Mr Humphrey Kofie, Executive Secretary, Mental Health Society of Ghana and Mr Badimak Peter Yaro, Executive Director BasicNeeds.

The two bodies consider the EC’s move as an opportunity for persons with disability to participate in all aspects of national life as full citizens of a democratic country.

“What is worth noting is that, stabilized persons with mental illness have themselves over the years consistently articulated their desire for inclusion and participation in the political process at the national and local levels,” the statement noted.**