|
Ladies and gentlemen of the media, presidents, Directors and staff of organizations of persons with disability, and fellow persons with disability (PWDs), good morning! On behalf of our members in Ghana in general and those in Greater Accra region in particular, I welcome you to this press conference.
This press conference is necessitated and occasioned by the usurpation of the 2% of the district assembly common funds (DACF) allocated to PWDs in each district throughout Ghana, by the previous government. This governmental intervention is intended to provide financial resources for programmes and projects of PWDs in each district, such as awareness raising/advocacy, lobbying and income generating activities, among others, tailored to mitigate the socioeconomic woes and pang of poverty confronting PWDs daily.
Ladies and gentlemen, I believe by now most of you are wondering who could have usurped the 2% of the DACF meant for PWDs, and how, and for what reason. Some of these questions will be answered by the time I finish reading the document I am currently reading.
A letter signed by the Chairman of the National Council for Persons with Disability (NCPD), Mr. Andrew Okaikoi, has been circulated to the district assemblies in Ghana, instructing them to disburse the percentage allocation of the DACF meant for PWDs to district coordinators bearing letters of introduction issued by him. These so-called district coordinators are unknown to PWDs in the districts. We also have every reason to believe that they are not officially appointed because the secretariat of the NCPD itself is yet to be staffed. As a result of the said letter, PWDs in the districts are turned away empty handed when they try to access the funds for their activities. The district assemblies cite the said letter as the reason why they will not disburse the funds to the PWDs in the districts.
Ladies and gentlemen, as we speak now we have in our possession not only a copy of the said letter provided by the chairman of the NCPD but also a copy of a cheque drawn by an assembly on the percentage allocation of the DACF meant for PWDs in favour of the NCPD. These two documentary evidences provide a proof that the said letter is operational and also that NCPD is accessing 2% of the DACF meant for our activities. We strongly disagree with the NCPD accessing our share of the DACF and call for immediate cessation. We also call for an unconditional revocation of the letter circulated to the district assemblies by the NCPD.
Ladies and gentlemen, nowhere in the persons with disability Act 2006, Act 715, which we fought for, is it stated that the NCPD will either share PWDs’ existing sources of revenues with them or take over those sources. The existing sources for PWDs include the DACF allocated to PWDs. We therefore cannot understand the basis on which the NCP accesses our share of thee DACF.
OUR EXPECTATIONS FROM THE NCPD.
- Because we used demonstration, advocacy, lobbying and pooling of supports from our network members and development partners as tools to pressurize for the passage of the fourteen year-old disability bill into the persons with disability Act 715, and another three years of advocacy, lobbying and even a presidential visit to have the NCPD inaugurated, we had expected a fruitful, collaborative and mutually respectful relationship with the NCPD. Unfortunately, the NCPD is rather denying us the little resources that we were tapping before the inauguration of the council.
- Since the inception of the percentage allocation of the DACF to PWDs in 2005, some district assemblies have refused to disburse the funds to PWDS for their programmes and projects. Others have disbursed it lackadaisically to the beneficiaries, while some district assemblies disbursed either less than 2% to PWDs or disbursed it as loans. With the inauguration of the council our expectation was that the NCPD would ensure total and speedy disbursement of the funds by the assemblies to PWDs for their activities. Rather the assemblies are instructed not to disburse the funds to PWDs.
- At a youth wing programme of the Ghana Association of the Blind, at GNAT Hall, the Hon. Minister for Employment and Social Welfare announced that the NDC government had increased the percentage allocation of the DACF to PWDs from 2% to 5%. We again expected the NCPD to impress upon the district assemblies to disburse 5% of the DACF to PWDs and not 2%. Lamentably, this expectation of ours too was a mirage, considering the direction taken by the NCPD with regards to the disbursement of the DACF meant for PWDs.
Ladies and gentlemen, which account is being fed with the funds accessed by the NCPD, and who operates the account?. We are yet to be told.
We attempted to speculate the reasoning behind the accessing of the fund by the NCPD. Some of our speculative reasoning includes:
- The NCPD is probably pooling the funds for equitable disbursement to PWDs. And if that is the intention behind the NCPD accessing the DACF meant for PWDs, then the act violates the principle of decentralization which is one key policy of the Ghanaian government. It will be of interest to state that some assemblies have started referring PWDs to the NCPD for their money. How can PWDs afford to travel all the way from districts to Accra to access their share of the DACF from the NCPD?. Moreover, the percentage allocation of the DACF to PWDs is intended to finance solely programs and projects embarked on by PWDs in the district, and the reasoning is to ensure that PWDs are actively integrated so that they can participate and contribute significantly in the development of communities where they are residents.
- NCPD maybe accessing the funds for payment of its administrative overheads. If we assume that this is the reasoning behind the NCPD accessing the funds, it will amount to government giving to PWDs with the right hand and taking it back with the left hand. Ladies and gentlemen, it is the duty of government to resource the NCPD to make it functional.
From the above and taking into consideration other possible reasons it is clear that whatever maybe the reasoning behind the NCPD accessing the DACF allocated to PWDs, it cannot be justified.
On this note we call on the Ghana Federation of the Disabled (GFD), an umbrella disability organization in Ghana, to step in and to impress upon the council to cease accessing the DACF meant for us and to withdraw unconditionally the letter it has circulated to the district assemblies so that PWDs can access the funds in their respective districts without having to either travel all the way to Accra or seek permission from any quarters. We also want government, the NCPD and the GFD to think together towards formulating modalities for effective and efficient management of the funds.
We also call for effective collaboration between the NCPD and the GFD. They are both relevant institutions in the disability movements in Ghana and their efforts should complement rather than rival each other. Our wise master Jesus Christ states that a house divided against it cannot stand and the NCPD and GFD should be guided by this wisdom.
We equally want to take this opportunity to disassociate ourselves from the press conference held on November 2, 2009 by a group calling itself “concerned persons with disability”. In our fourteen years of struggle to have the disability bill passed into the persons with disability Act and the three years of lobbying, advocacy and a presidential visit for the inauguration of the NCPD, concerned persons with disability had never participated or contributed in any way. In fact we don’t know them in the disability movement. If the group has anything meaningful to offer the disability movement in Ghana we shall advise that it gets on board so that we work together, instead of speaking in the name of people it has no relationship with.
Ladies and gentlemen of the media thank you for honoring our invitation.
Spokesperson
Alhassan Ibrahim
THE PRESENTTAION WAS MADE AT A PRESS CONFERENCE ORGANIZED BY MEMBERS OF DISABILITY ORGANIZATIONS IN THE GREATER ACCRA REGION AT THE ACCRA REHABILITATION CENTRE, ON NOVEMBER 9TH, 2009 |
