A nominated lawmaker and chairperson of the Gambia Organisation of the Visually Impaired has criticized Gambia government for being insensitive to the plight of people living with disability in the country.
Ndey Secka said country’s institutions, policies frameworks and even the laws has barely any consideration for the conditions of people with disability.
“There are teachers in our society who do not want to integrate persons with disabilities…. People with disabilities are not protected. Go to our National Assembly; there is nothing friendly, not even the structures,” she said.
“The physically disable cannot even use the toilets in our schools… Before people were arrested because they were begging…”
Hon Secka, herself visually impaired, has been fighting the cause of disable in the country for a long time. She has on several occasions taken state ministers to task over issues concerning disable people in the Gambian society.
Could of months ago she started a discussion in the lawmaking body over the possibility of putting marks on country’s currency notes so that people who are visually impaired can identify them.
Secka was speaking at the launch of the Commonwealth Partnership for Democracy at Ocean Bay, a project that is meant to empower Gambia’s political parties towards democratization.
The project which is going to be implemented by West Minster Foundation for Democracy aims at supporting young people, women and disables to take decision making positions in political parties.
“Our rehabilitation Centre is about to collapse and I told my people not to go there anymore… And this Centre was not even built by the Government… Even this Centre has nothing for other types of disabilities—only some things for those with physical disabilities,” Secka added.
“In the Gambia, we cannot do anything for people with disabilities. We can only seek donor funding and when it comes, we oversight people with disabilities.”
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