The Ministry of Gender, Community Development and Social Welfare yesterday launched the revised disability policy, which is more responsive to the aspirations, vision and strategic objectives of the government as reflected through the Malawi’s Agenda 2063.
In particular, the revised policy puts into perspective the medium-term strategy, the Malawi Implementation Plan (MIP-1), which acknowledges persons with disabilities as a vulnerable population that needs specific interventions for building their resilience and livelihoods from a human rights perspective.
Said the Minister responsible, Jean Sendeza, during the launch: “I am confident that the implementation of this policy will meaningfully help government to address the many challenges being faced by persons with disabilities.”
The new policy is a review of the 2006 National Policy on Equalisation of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities to provide guidance and strategic direction to State and non-State actors in the design and implementation of various programmes which target persons with disabilities.
Federation of Disability Organisations in Malawi (Fedoma) vice-president Scader Louis, who is also a commissioner of the Malawi Human Rights Commission (MHRC), said the central part of the revised policy is to strengthen the fundamental human rights for persons with disabilities.
“The first step should be to strengthen their fundamental human rights, especially the right to a dignified life, create the space for them to do and participate in whatever all other people are doing. We can begin with this time of elections by giving them space to compete without any obstacles,” she said.
In the run-up to the September 16 General Election, the Malawi Electoral Commission gave a 50 percent discount in nomination fees for persons with disabilities, a development which has seen about 60 of them expressing interest to compete for either parliamentary or local government seats.
However, in another interview, Malawi Council for the Disability Affairs (Macoda) executive director George Chiusiwa said incentives such as offering persons with disabilities half-down nomination fees cannot have any impact if people do not change their mindset.
“First of all, we need to make sure that people’s perception of persons with disabilities is changed.
“We need to fully trust their capabilities and accord them all the rights that are enshrined in the Constitution and these include the right to join, form or take part in any political grouping,” he said.
The review process involved consultations with stakeholders such as the Ministry of Education, Fedoma and other organisations for persons with disabilities, individual persons with disabilities, their families, caregivers, Macoda, Malawi Against Polio, Office of the President and Cabinet and cvil society organisations.
