Political parties should support PWD's to contest in the coming August general elections
Political parties should support PWD's to contest in the coming August general elections
IEBC chair has announced that the general elections will be held in August 9th 2022.People with disabilities have not been favoured in the ongoing campaign and they are not sure to be nominated either.People with disabilities lack capacity and endure harmful attitudes.They also face a lot of stereotypical attitudes, as they are played down and not treated as part of the team in politics. Money is another challenge because running an election campaign without significant resources is extremely difficult. Women with disabilities have difficult participating in politics as they are even more discriminated and seen as incapable to lead.Women with disabilities should be taken into consideration when supporting women’s political participation.The people with disabilities are frown upon and those who have shown that they would like to contest are not given support from the leaders of political parties.The campaigns do not favour them, as the rostrum are not build for easy access for them to reach the dias.Some politician use cars to campaign and it is difficult for the PWD's to use their cars or cars which are custom made to host them.Sometimes there is an election violence and this hinders People with disabilities from participating as it is difficult to move away quickly during the fracas.The language used sometimes is not accommodative to them.Their opponents can take advantages and mention their disabilities to get political mileage.They also lack finances and some contestants are sponsored but not people with disabilities.Some offices of political parries are not accessible to poeple with disabilities,as some are in 3rd or 4th floor and the buildings lacks lifts.Political parties should nominate people with disabilities and they should support them financially also they should waive registration fees and move with them during campaign.That is when we will know that they support people with disabilities.This will strengthen the capacities of people with disabilities by advocating for political participation.
By
Veronica onjoro
DIRECTOR CAREER ORGANISATION/CATECHIST
onjoroveronica@yahoo.com
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