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Disability
is not Inability |
::Vision 2030 for Kumbafus with disabilities.
21st October 2006
Vision 2030 for Kenyans with Disabilities
Vision 2030 may be yet to ring anything in the minds of many
Kenyans—let alone those of us living with disabilities.
I was proud to hear for the first time in a public speech when
the President mentioned the disabled community. Some may say I
heard my own things, and maybe the historic sign language interpreter
didn’t hear it and so she didn’t sign it. But the
President said that even the people who have body issues—body
inabilities, the government would help. You know the way he talks…
The President, in his off-the-cuff Kiswahili speech, said it:
the government will help people with body challenges. He said
it and only left it as a statement of will. He was talking about
the fact that 94% of the government’s revenue comes from
the taxes all citizens pay, including us—the disabled community.
He said this revenue is three times more than what was available
under former government of president Moi. He said we must continue
paying taxes and that those not paying must start doing so. It
is taxes that pay for our security, improved free education, health,
and bloated government without a representative of the disabled
community.
Was it a statement of wish or does the government have anything
for the disabled community within the strategy of achieving the
vision 2030? I am going to check on that.
What I know for sure is that the government of president Kibaki
enacted the 2004 Persons with Disabilities Act. A section of this
act spells out the fact that disabled communities are among the
few working citizens who would be exempted from tax. This should
be implemented. Let the Ministers concerned stop playing with
us merry-go-round. The exemption is supposed to compensate for
their disability. This is important to us disabled people because
we have to pay extra fees to access basic services. For example,
a deaf patient may need to pay more than the cost of the drugs
prescribed in the local hospital. She needs to also pay a sign
language interpreter to make the nurse understand that it’s
malaria and not TB that she has been suffering from in the last
three weeks. In fact, many deaf patients fail to make it to prescription,
since most cannot communicate with a doctor and achieve a successful
diagnosis. Many would rather go to an herbalist, since many may
learn a few signs or are deaf themselves.
In addition, companies that employ the disabled should be given
a tax boost. What is the impact of exempting all working, disabled
people from taxation on Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) revenue
targets, Mr. Finance Minister? What has the government done for
us with the money anyway?
Is it easier to zero-rate tax for the disabled persons or should
the government provide these services directly? How many blind
people know that malaria is now treated free-of-charge in government
hospitals. How many physically disabled mothers can reach the
hospitals in the villages when they need mobility aids to reach
the hospital 40 kilometers away? Is it an elitist policy to push
for the zero taxation if so few persons with disabilities are
working? Or should the hospitals be made disability friendly by
an adjustment order as the Disability Act so deliberately denies
us? Should it be a better way to ensure more disabled people have
access to employment? Would it have been a better statement if
the President gave an order for the civil service employment policy
to be disability friendly? Or is it that disabled people lack
the voting potential?
He said that thirty percent of all the employment opportunities
be given to women. What a laudable move. What about women with
disabilities? What about disabled people in general? Why not ensure
that disabled people fill five percent of the civil service positions?
Such a measure would be a great impetus for the disabled community
to walk into vision 2030. Would it be a better deal for us if
companies that employ us were given tax considerations? Then more
would be employed and they would not be kumbafus. They should
be exempt from paying tax as disability-compensation and urged
to work hard like anybody else and contribute to vision 2030 without
coming to your house to beg for food or fare.
Mr. President, we don’t want to be the kumbafus of this
country. The only way this can be achieved is if we are enabled
to work together. Free education is not free for our children
with disabilities. We need access to assistive devices and communication
assistants within the overcrowded classrooms to get an education.
Mr. President, we need a quality education so that employers and
banks can give us jobs and loans. Mr. President, thank you for
working hard for us. Thank you for opening our minds to our rights.
Thank you so much for all these.
disabilitykenya
Category: Community
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