The National Council on Persons with Disabilities (NCPD) has called on the government to implement the Employment Equity Policy (EEP) for transformative disability inclusion.
The EEP is a document designed under the Persons with Disability Act 2006 (Act 715) to address high unemployment situation among Persons With Disabilities (PWD) in Ghana.
The policy seeks to promote equal opportunity, inclusion and fair treatment in terms of employment through the elimination of discrimination and implementation of affirmative measures to redress the disadvantages in employment experience by vulnerable groups.
The Executive Secretary of NCPD, Madam Esther Akua Gyemfi, who made the call in a speech read on her behalf by the Acting National Coordinator for the Regional Directorate of NCPD, Mr Joshua Arddy, said that would ensure equitable representation of PWDs in all occupational categories and levels in the workforce.
Madam Gyemfi made the call during a stakeholders’ engagement organised by Planned Parenthood Association of Ghana (PPAG) in collaboration with the NCPD and the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations (MELR) on the draft of the EEP in Accra on Thursday.
The engagement, organised under the Promoting Equal Rights for Women and Girls with Disabilities (PERD) Project funded by the Dutch Embassy in Ghana, aimed to review the EEP document to be submitted to the MELR to facilitate the process for adoption by government to address employment challenges among PWDs in the country.
Madam Gyemfi said research had shown that the employment rate for PWDs in Ghana was very low as compared to developing countries despite successive governments’ interventions.
“This is a step which Ghana has taken to ensure that we mainstream PWDs issues into national development, hence trying to ensure employment rate for PWDs increase,” she added.
She said the Policy applied to all companies set up under sections 2 and 33 of the Company’s Act 2019 (Act 992) and the Public Service of Ghana as specified in Article 190 of the Constitution, as well as to public Corporations and Civil Society Organisations.
“The policy will require Companies, Ministries, Departments and agencies to inform management and employees of the policy, obtain the commitment and active support of all managers in order to ensure successful implementation and maintain all records,” she stated.
The Executive Director of PPAG, Madam Abena Adubea Amoah, said the Disability Act enjoins every employer, whether in the private or public sector, to employ PWDs once they have the capacity, saying sensitisation was very important in the implementation of the policy as it would provide the needed impetus to scale it up.
BY VIVIAN ARTHUR