COUNTY POLITICS: Advocate for people with disabilities trains her sights on National Assembly seat

When Caroline Agwanda first tried to contest for the Kisumu Central parliamentary seat in 2013, she gave up even before going through the primaries. Reason: she could not afford the nomination fee of Sh250,000.

“I could not even raise Sh10,000, leave alone that amount. In addition, the seat had attracted many contenders and my chances of victory were minimal. I, therefore, decided to review my political strategy,” she says.

She started working for the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) and founded a lobby called Watu Walemavu na Raila.

“I was the coordinator for Nyanza region and we were able to mobilise persons with disabilities to register as voters and rally support for the party during the elections,” Ms Agwanda says.

Her efforts did not go unnoticed. She was nominated to the Kisumu County Assembly to represent people with disabilities.

Getting into the Assembly was a golden chance for her to prove that she was a performer. Since her entry, Ms Agwanda has recorded one of the most sterling performances by a Member of County Assembly.

She initiated the County Disability Bill, which has been adopted by the Kenya Disability Parliamentarians caucus in all the 47 counties. Kisumu County now has the Persons with Disability Act, which provides for the establishment of a County Disability Board and a County Disability Development Fund.

The law also protects the rights of people with disabilities and exempts them from any business levies charged by the county government.

SIGN LANGUAGE

“Offenders are liable to prosecution and therefore the county government has had to comply,” an elated Ms Agwanda says.

On education, the Act provides for free education for children with disabilities in the county and compels learning institutions to incorporate sign language as a subject to help create an inclusive society.

After this major success in Kisumu County, she has been invited in 36 counties to help them come up with similar legislation.

“I have been to Machakos, Siaya, Homa Bay, Busia, Kiambu, Nairobi and Mombasa counties,” Ms Agwanda says.

Her contribution has seen her elected to represent Kenya in the World Assembly for Women With Disabilities, where she also doubles as the East and Central Africa representative.

Using this platform, she has managed to convince the Assembly to put up a disability complex in Kenya.

“I have proposed that the complex be built in Kisumu. The Assembly has already dispatched a team to conduct a feasibility study and talk to politicians and opinion leaders to establish the impact of the proposed facility,” she says.

The complex will be put up in Nyakach as the area’s MP has promised to donate land for the facility.

Inside the Kisumu County Assembly, Ms Agwanda is known to have massive contribution in the legislation of new laws. She has introduced 17 motions, among them the Access to Information, which is now an Act.

THE INCLUSION

Within the ODM political party structure, she has pushed for the inclusion of people with disabilities. Ms Agwanda, who is the Kisumu County ODM disability league coordinator recently organised a meeting in Kisumu between the ODM party leader Raila Odinga and people with disabilities.

The meeting culminated in the formation and official launch of a structure called ODM Disability League by the party leader.

Her efforts to see people with disabilities recognised beyond the political sphere has seen her partner with donors from the United Kingdom, who distributed equipment worth Sh4.8 million in all the 35 wards in Kisumu.

“This is a long-term relationship and I will be linking the donor with the County Disability Board once it is established,” Ms Agwanda says.

Her partners in the UK have promised to donate more wheelchairs.

“This is going to help the county a great deal because the Disability Act vests the County Government with a similar responsibility by establishing a disability development fund,” she says.

But it has not been a smooth ride for Ms Agwanda. She has had to use her own resources to traverse the 35 wards in the county because nominated MCAs have no allocation to support the development activities they engage in.

Having achieved so much as a Member of County Assembly, she now wants to replicate the same as a Member of Parliament.

She will be contesting the Kisumu Central parliamentary seat in the forthcoming General Election.

“I am consulting professionals in the disability movement and other people, including my husband, to support my candidature,” Ms Agwanda says.

– AWC Features