The Kirinyaga County Persons With Disability Bill, 2023ย has this morning been read a second time; marking significant progress in the legislative interventions to protect and empower persons living with disability in the county.
The bill which is spearheaded by the committee on Gender and Youth that is chaired by Hon. Benson Ngahu seeks to provide for rights and rehabilitation of Persons Livingย With Disabilities with a view to improving their living standards and mainstreaming activities that seek to improve their welfare.
The key provisions of the bill include:
- ๐๐๐๐ฎ๐ฏ๐น๐ถ๐๐ต๐บ๐ฒ๐ป๐ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐ฎ ๐ฏ๐ผ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฑ ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐ฃ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐๐ผ๐ป๐ ๐๐ถ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ช๐ถ๐๐ต ๐๐ถ๐๐ฎ๐ฏ๐ถ๐น๐ถ๐๐: The board will be responsible for among others formulating and developing policies to achieve equal opportunities for persons with disability, ensuring caption of accurate data of PWDS by the County and National Government for purposes of planning and resource allocation, assisting persons with disability in accessing legal justice as well as advice the CEC member on the welfare and rehabilitation of persons with disability.
- ๐ง๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐๐ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ฝ๐ฟ๐ถ๐๐ถ๐น๐ฒ๐ด๐ฒ๐ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐ฃ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐๐ผ๐ป๐ ๐๐ถ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ช๐ถ๐๐ต ๐๐ถ๐๐ฎ๐ฏ๐ถ๐น๐ถ๐๐; persons living with disability shall not be discriminated in employment, education opportunities, access to medical facilities and shall be entitled to a barrier free and disability friendly environment to enable them have access to buildings, roads and other social amenities.
- ๐๐๐๐ฎ๐ฏ๐น๐ถ๐๐ต๐บ๐ฒ๐ป๐ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐ฎ ๐ฑ๐ถ๐๐ฎ๐ฏ๐ถ๐น๐ถ๐๐ ๐ณ๐๐ป๐ฑ: the fund will provide funding to interventions identified by communities and other stakeholders to support persons living with disabilities.
The bill received wide spread support from the MCAs with specially elected MCA Hon. Harrison Kariuki calling for the full inclusion and support of Persons Living With Disability. He called for full implementation of the provisions of the bill once enacted to empower PWDs escape the dependency syndrome.
On her part Hon. Beatrice Mitaru lauded the provision by the bill to haveย qualified persons with disability nominated and appointed to all institutions , projects and programs, committees or boards that legally require public representation and participation.
The bill which was unanimously supported by the MCAs now sails to the third reading with amendments as proposed during the committee of the whole house.