Vihiga accused of discrimination against the disabled

The building that houses the Vihiga county headquarters in Mbale. FILE PHOTO |

What you need to know:

  • Group demands county administration gives them fairer treatment.
  • They took political parties to task over their failure to nominate persons with disabilities to the assembly.

People from Vihiga County living with disabilities have accused the county’s administration of discrimination and violating their rights.

The disabled, drawn from Emuhaya and Luanda, said in a statement that they had been denied employment opportunities and affirmative representation.

They further linked their tribulations to problems they were facing such as poor access to education, lack of an enabling environment and discrimination by their families and the community, all of which made it difficult to attain the highest level of education and compete with the able-bodied.

TAKE MEASURES

The group’s chairperson, Naomi Mandela, called on the county government to consider some of its members who had attained certificates, diplomas and degrees.

“The Constitution of Kenya Article 10, 2 (b) on values and Article 27 (4) gives express proposals on observation of these rights (for the disabled),” she said.

She added, “To give full effect to realisation of this, the Vihiga administration should take legislative and other measures, including affirmative action, on programmes and policies designed to redress any disadvantage suffered by individuals or groups because of past discrimination.”

They reminded the government of the constitutional requirement for at least five per cent of elective and appointive positions to go to persons living with disabilities.

The statement by the group that came after a consultative meeting held at an Emuhaya hotel at the weekend further listed demands that they wanted to be met.

“The county government should set up an independent body to carry out an employee audit and establish how many persons living with disabilities have so far been employed. The body should also review the number of contracts awarded to persons living with disabilities in the last financial year,” read the statement.

Other demands ranged from need for affirmative action to public participation and representation in all public matters.

They complained that the political parties in the county — ODM, UDF and PPK — failed to nominate a single disabled person to the county assembly.

“The said parties should explain the reasons as to why they didn’t nominate persons living with disabilities to the assembly. We are going to petition the electoral body and the Registrar of Political Parties for necessary action,” said Ms Mandela.