Human Rights group calls for increase funding
The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) has called upon the government to increase budgetary allocations to the National Council for Persons with Disabilities, which runs life-saving programs.
As they commemorate the International Day of Persons with Disabilities (IDPWD), held annually on December 3rd, the Chairlady of KNCHR, Roseline Odede, said that increased budget allocation will make the operation of the organizations easy.
“We advocate for increased budgetary allocations to the National Council for Persons with Disabilities, which runs life-saving programs such as the National Albinism Sunscreen Support Program (NASSP),” said Odede.
On the other hand, KNCHR also calls upon the thirteenth Parliament to consider and urgently pass into law the Persons with Disabilities Bill, 2021 that seeks to repeal the Persons with Disabilities Act, 2003 to bring it in line with the CRPD and the Constitution of Kenya, 2010.
The group is also advocating for the enactment and implementation of laws on disabilities across the forty-seven devolved units mirroring the aspirations of the Constitution, Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in Africa, which Kenya has already signed and ratified.
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that globally, over 1 billion people are experiencing disability.
This corresponds to about 15 per cent of the world’s population, with up to 190 million people aged 15 years and above having significant difficulties in functioning, often requiring health care services.
Based on the 2019 Kenya Population and Housing Census (KPHC) conducted
by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS), 2.2 per cent (900,000) of Kenyans live with some form of disability.
The census results indicate that 1.9 per cent of men have a disability compared with 2.5 per cent of women, thereby making women with disabilities even more vulnerable.
The census also revealed that there are more persons with disabilities living in rural than urban areas with prevalence rates by residence showing that 2.6 per cent (0.7 million) of people lived in rural areas and 1.4 per cent (0.2 million) of people in urban areas have a disability.
Also read: Kenyan personalities and their nicknames