By Francis H. Murray
The National Commission for Persons with Disability has presented a proposed budget of 10,093,000 billion to the Ministry of Finance for the 2021 Financial Year.
Executive Secretary for the Commission, Saa Lamin Kortequee, made this disclosure on Monday 12th October, 2020 during the ongoing budget planning process at the Ministry of Finance Main Conference Hall in Freetown. He said the demand was to create a conducive atmosphere for all categories of Persons with Disabilities (PWD) and to ensure that they live independently in a dignified manner.
The Commission is a statutory body established by an Act of Parliament to prohibit discrimination against persons with disabilities, achieve equalization of opportunities for persons with disabilities and to provide for other related matters.
Kortequee said given the enormous mandate of the Commission, there was huge need for financial, human and technical support to the commission.
He explained that the budget ceiling given to the Commission was two billion one hundred million Leones (2,100,000,000) but that they had exceeded the ceiling by seven billion and ninety-three million Leones (7,093,000,000.00).
He went on to note that the proposed budget, if approved, would ensure the wellbeing of persons with disabilities, create life skills and livelihood empowerment, as well as support the construction and renovation of existing centres in all the regions.
“We are asking the Government to provide us with Le5, 098, 000, 0000, which is half of the submitted budget and is geared towards capital development,’’ he stressed.
Mr Kortequee outlined some of the activities of the Commission, namely enforcing compliance with the public infrastructure accessibility legislation and policies, research, monitoring and evaluation of disability issues, outreach to communities and institutions to increase awareness, inclusion and popularization of the PWD Act of 2011.
Also part of the budget are the increase in staff strength and institutional capacity building, as well as general administrative and operating cost.
In line with gender budgeting and other budgeting guidelines, the Commission took into consideration the number of women and men with disabilities who should be reached, empowered and included in service delivery, according to Mr Kortequee.
“NCPD in the 2021 plan has budgeted for the staffing of more centres with physically challenged women , with a percentage of 45% for male and 55% for women in all interventions,’’ he stated.
Reflecting on the successes of the Commission in the 2019/2020 Financial Year, Kortequee said they supported over 24 displaced person organisations as their response to the impact of Covid-19 on their livelihood sources nationwide; they also facilitated the admission of over 500 students in tertiary educational institutions and gave direct support to help disable people access medical services.
The Commission said it also provided technical support to the National Commission for Social Action (NaCSA) in its Covid-19 Support to PWDs during the lockdown and the ongoing Cash Transfer project for PWDs. Kortequee said they have been involved in the fight against the spread of Covid-19 by raising awareness and providing support to PWDs, and they conducted accessibility audit, having recently launched the first accessibility report on key institutions of governance.
According to Kortequee, the Commission is currently understaffed, with only one worker at regional level. He also said that they lacked vehicles.
In his statement, the Chairman of the Commission, James Taiwo Cullen, pleaded with the Government to provide the necessary support to the Commission in order to actualise the vision of President Bio’s New Direction.
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