Mr Yatma Fall, President of the West Africa Federation of Persons with Disabilities, has called on governments within the West African sub region to prioritise accessibility issues that persons with disabilities face.
He said disability becomes a challenge when there is no
accessibility and “we cannot develop our region without including the needs of
persons with disabilities.”
Mr Fall said there are about 60 million persons with disabilities
living in West Africa and governments cannot afford to leave them behind in the
develop agenda.
He was speaking at the opening of a training programme for
member of the West Africa Federation of Persons with Disabilities (WAFOD) on accessibility
issues.
The WAFOD is made up of 16 federations of persons with
disabilities from 16 countries including Ghana, Cote’D’ Ivoire, Senegal, Togo,
South Africa, Benin, Burkina Faso, Mali, Guinea Conakry, Niger among others.
Mr Fall said governments should be intentional about making
policies, programmes and systems that facilitated the inclusion of person with
disability especially in the area of accessibility.
“We cannot afford to leave behind 60 million persons with disabilities
in West Africa,” he reiterated.
Ms Esther Ekua Gyamfi, Executive Secretary of the National
Council on Persons with Disabilities who represented the Government said Ghana
had taken steps to ensure the accessibility of persons with disabilities.
She said there are various programmes and policies being
implemented to ensure that persons with disabilities in Ghana are not limited
by accessibility and pledged government’s continuous support towards
facilitating accessibility.
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