SPEECH by Hon. Naomi   Shaban, EGH. MP, Minister for Gender, Children and Social Development during the official closing of a workshop for “Eastern Africa Women With Disabilities Needs Assessment”, at the Presbyterian Church Guest House on Thursday 17th March 2011 at 4.00 pm.

Dear participants

Distinguished Guests

Ladies and Gentlemen

It gives me great pleasure to be with you today to preside over the official closing of this workshop on Eastern Africa Women with Disabilities Needs assessment.

I am happy to be associated with initiatives that seek to address the plight of persons with disabilities, women in particularly.  I am informed that the two-day workshop was organized within the context of the Ratification and implementation of the UN Convention on the rights of Persons with disabilities.

I am optimistic that the workshop was able to explore the content of the Convention and how women with disabilities would benefit from this new human rights treaty and also present a forum to exchange gains from their respective countries.

Ladies and Gentlemen

The issues of gender based violence is of great concern, and more so against women with disabilities. It is my desire that this workshop has developed strategies that organization of women with disabilities can use in their respective countries to address such violence against them.

In light of the above, I wish to commend Hon. Margaret Babadiri, a Member of Parliament from Uganda, who has made remarkable contribution in the disability advocacy, having been elected twice, despite being visually impaired.

Dear participants

Ladies and Gentlemen,

As you may be aware, the government of Kenya has made significant strides in the last couple of years that seeks to enhance service delivery and implementation of programmes with a view to promote the rights of women, including those with disabilities.

It is worth noting that Kenya is one of the few countries in Africa that has passed an Act of Parliament to provide for persons with disabilities. In addition, Kenya signed and ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities on 30th March 2007 and 19th May 2008 respectfully. The government is working towards domestication of the Convention to enable persons with disabilities enjoy eqaul rights like other Kenyans.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The government has made progressive steps towards incorporating disability issues and concerns into national institutions and programs. Under the Social Pillar in the Vision 2030 there is a provision which states that, “a society cannot develop if it does not address existing inequalities in terms of income, health and other living conditions as it affects different groups. These groups include Persons with Disabilities (PWDs), older persons, children and women”.

In an endeavour to alleviate the plight of persons with disabilities, my ministry established the National Development Fund (NDF) for Persons with Disabilities aimed at promoting business entrepreneurship.

In the last financial year 2009/2010, the government disbursement of Kshs. 200 million as a social protection intervention aimed at improving the status of Persons With Disabilities and their bargaining power at household level.

The Fund has set aside Kshs. 25 million towards a pilot cash-transfer programme for persons with disabilities. This progarrme will target10 households per constituency and will receive Kshs. 3,000/- bi-monthly.

Distinguished Guests,

Through partnerships between government and stakeholders, a wide range of legislation has been harmonized to ensure that persons with disabilities receive appropriate health, education and rehabilitation services within a conducive environment.

Towards this end, the government has enshrined disability issues in the new Constitution, policies have also been put in place that include among others:-

• The enactment of the Persons with Disability Act in 2003 whose main objective is to provide for the rights, rehabilitation and equalization of opportunities,
• The Act established the National Council for Persons with Disabilities (NCPWD) in 2004;
• The National Policy on Disability that seeks to eliminate disparities in service provisions,
• Disability was captured as a key indicator in the 2009 National Population and Housing Census which indicated that out total population of over 38 million people,  over 1.3million  that is 3.5% of total population are persons with disabilities.
• In 2010,   the African Rehabilitation Institute (ARI) was established and operationalized in Kenya to facilitate coordination of capacity building and technical skills of PWDs.

Distinguished Guests,

Other initiates include:-

• Domestication of the Continental Plan of Action (CPA) of the African Decade of Persons with Disabilities and the setting up a National Decade Steering Committee (NDSC) to serve as a focal point for the implementation of the National Plan;
• Disability mainstreaming has been institutionalized in the public sector through the Public Service Reforms and Results Based Management Initiatives. Beginning 2009/2010 financial year, disability mainstreaming is a key target in performance contracting and in all sector policies and programmes.

As I conclude, I wish to thank the Eastern Africa Federation on the Disabled (EAFOD) for organizing this workshop, I am optimistic that your two day deliberations  will go along isabilities in the region can benefit from the UN convention on Rights of persons with disabilities.

With these remarks, Ladies and Gentlemen, it now my pleasant   duty to declare the “Eastern Africa Women With Disabilities Needs Assessment”, workshop officially closed.

Thank you

God bless