Disabled people in Ghana demand jobs

From the Ghana News Agency:

ACCRA, Ghana -- National Council of Persons with Disability (NCPD) and unemployed persons with disability on July 8 called on the Government, corporate organisations, churches and individuals to consider employing persons with disabilities in their workforce.

This is because they could also contribute significantly to corporate and national development.

Mr Andrews Okaikoi, Chairman of NPCD, made the call at a meeting organized by the council and unemployed disabled persons to tackle challenges facing person with disability in Ghana.

He said it had been difficult for persons with disability to secure jobs, adding that government needed to show goodwill to the disabled by enforcing and implementing the Disabled Act which emphasized employment, creating access to public buildings and education.

"Every disabled person ought to be employed so far as they are qualified. Institutions must also create working environments for them," he said.

He said the Council would champion the battle to streamline the policy to be laid down to guide the disabled.

He urged the media to support the Council by advocating and also partnering with them to become a pressure group to enable the business community to support the disabled to ensure employment.

Mr Alexander Kojo Tetteh, Executive Director, Centre for the Employment of People with Disabilities (CEPD), a non-governmental organization, said the situation of securing a job by the disabled had become worse than ever saying that employment for the disabled was a difficult issue to deal with.

"Ghana is making achievements in a number of areas. The whole world is looking at this country as a great nation in Africa, and that is why the first black president of America is using our country as his destination in sub-Saharan Africa. This compliment must reflect in the lives of the underprivileged and the marginalized like persons with disabilities," he said.

He said the disabled needed equal opportunities to enable them to recognize that they existed and ensuring that they lived a meaningful and fulfilling life.

Mr Tetteh said CEPD had compiled CVs of qualified person with disabilities who were willing to work.