PWDs Demand For State Minister For Disabilities

PWDs Demand For State Minister For Disabilities

Women with Disabilities have intensified their demand to President Museveni to appoint a minister of state for Disabilities and elderly which has remained empty since 2016. They claim that the minister was their avenue to reach their issues to the cabinet

On 6th June 2016 the president of Uganda Yoweri Kaguta Museveni announced his cabinet in which he appointed Mr Adrian Tibaleka as a state minister of disabilities and elderly to replace Sulaiman Madada but thing went bad for Tibaleka when he was bounced by the Parliamentary appointments committee which overturned his appointment on grounds of lacking the capacity to handle disability issues. Since then the position has remained vacant which has raised anxiety among the people living with disabilities

Women living with disabilities under their umbrella body of Human Rights for Women with disabilities have lost patience and come out to demand from president Museveni to appoint their line minister to ensure that their voices are represented in the cabinet. The group wonders why it has taken the president so long to reappoint another person yet they have overwhelmingly supported the government.

The PWDs contend that their issues have not been prioritized due to lack of a minister and they want only a person with disability to be appointed claiming they have got a lot of competent peoples who appreciate their challenges.

When it comes to reproductive health women with disabilities argue that they have been left so behind, straight away from structures of health centers which are not friendly to the lame. They also accuse health workers for being so disrespectful to the PWDs by insulting and neglecting them especially when they go gynecological cases.

These women are also concerned with the way they are neglected by men in terms of love. Betty Kinene a District Councillor representing people with disabilities in Mpigi district noted that they have came across several cases where men get into love affairs with disabled persons but after impregnating them they take off and disown pregnancies which has frustrated the lives of many PWDs.

Women with disabilities now demand government to design policies that put PWDs at a priority and enforce those that are already drafted.