By Saio Marrah
Amnesty International has together with persons with disabilities called on the government of Sierra Leone to speedily enact the amended disability bill by the end of this year, 2024. A bill which they say could address most of their welfare issues among others.
They also called for a wide range of consultation with persons with disability during the review process of the bill in order to capture issues affecting their well-being.
The groups made the call during a news conference held at the Amnesty International country office in Freetown on Tuesday July 9th, 2024.
The Director of Amnesty International in Sierra Leone, Solomon Moses Sogbandi in his statement acknowledged that some efforts have been made as the bill has been drafted and sent to the office of the Attorney General but that it was withdrawn and sent to the commission for persons with disability on the understanding that much consultation with the wider disability community was not done.
He added that the commission was told to consult people that are mostly affected by the act.
He also used the opportunity to say that the grievances between the commission and cross section of the disability community have been addressed and that such will aid in the review process of the bill. He also added that Amnesty International loved to see the enactment of the bill by the end of this year.
According to him, when there is a political will to speedily enact a particular bill, it will happen while making reference to Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, which he said did not take more than three weeks to be enacted into law.
He said the passing of the bill into law will address emerging issues and challenges in the old act.
According to him, Amnesty is taking up the fight to ensure persons living with disability have a respected and dignified living. He went on to say that there is no assurance that abled persons will not become disabled in the future and that it is unfair for abled persons to maltreat disabled.
The Executive Director of Sierra Leone Association of persons with Albania (SLAPWA), Mohamed Osman Kamara, said there are certain things in the old act that are not favourable to persons living with disability.
He said as much as the government is paying tuition fees for persons with disability at public universities, certain equipment which the blind use like braille that cannot accessed by those students and that the buildings also are not disabled-friendly. On that note, he said there is a need to review provisions in the current act.
He also called on the government to take disability issues very seriously and that the ministry of social welfare be well- equipped. Kamara added that they want the new law to be reflective of the challenges facing persons with disability.
The Executive Director of Centre for Partnership Initiative, Mohamed Bundu Koroma thanks the partners for patronizing with persons with disability.
According to him, the disability act is a human right issue and that as human right practitioners they believe that the issue of disability should not be left in the hands of disabled persons as according to him, he went on to say that the bill should not be reflective of the interest of the duty bearers, but those disabled persons most-affected.
Koroma said the act is like a Bible that embeds duty bearers to do what they are supposed to do.
The Programme Manager at the Commission for Persons with Disability,
Tamba S.P. Mondeh spoke of the relevance of the bill, adding that if the new bill is not enacted, institutions will continue to be doing things as usual. Mondeh called on the UN agencies in the country to collaborate in the passing of the bill.
Copyright © 2024 Politico (10/07/24)
