The founder of the Henry Djaba Memorial Foundation, Otiko Djaba has pleaded with the citizenry to vote massively for women and physically challenged persons contesting the local level elections on Tuesday, December 17, 2019.
She expressed worry that only 20 physically challenged and 909 women picked up nomination forms to contest the assembly and unit committee elections.
Addressing a Town Hall Meeting to commemorate the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, Madam Otiko Djaba, a former Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection, observed that there were 18,510 aspirants who had picked up nomination forms, unfortunately, the women are only 909 and persons with disability are just 20 and questioned their accessibility and their independence.
The 2019 International theme: ‘Promoting the Participation of Persons With Disabilities and their Leadership: Taking Action on the 2030 Development Agenda,’
was jointly organised by the Henry Djaba Memorial Foundation and the Inter-Ministerial Cooperating Committee on Decentralisation.
Madam Otiko Djaba stressed on the need to “campaign for them, encourage them, support and assist them and on Tuesday December 17, vote for them, to make the present accessible before the future can be accessible, our time to make a difference.
“Vote for persons with disability for their voices to be represented at the local government level, they too can be made to feel human because they have human rights, guaranteed by our constitution. Every citizen has human rights, why do we always say that persons with disability cannot make it in life?
“They may be physically challenged but their brains are intact and should be encouraged and not stigmatized. Disability should not be equated with inability, everyone in the society had a specific role to play.
Dr Lawrence Tetteh, the president of the Worldwide Miracle Outreach, was hopeful someday, a person with disability will become the Speaker of Parliament, the Chief Justice, or the President and should not give up.
“Women should also be given the mantle of leadership because they are more judicious with managing resources and less corrupt while men are corrupt than women, let’s encourage women to take up responsibilities.
“When we secure the rights of people with disabilities, we move closer to achieving the central promise of the 2030 Agenda to leave no one behind -myjoyonline.com
