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The Inter-Religious Council of Uganda (IRCU) which unites various denominations, is planning to sign an agreement with the National Union of Disabled Persons of Uganda (NUDIPU).

IRCU legal affairs manager John Osapiri, who is also in charge of East African Community affairs, made this declaration on Thursday at Hotel Africana in Kampala. 

This was during a multi-sectoral engagement meeting on land rights and food security for persons with disabilities (PWDs).

Osapiri revealed that IRCU has extended a hand of collaboration to NUDIPU and is on a quest to enhance collaboration using the power of religious groups.

“We represent everybody in Uganda, IRCU has a positive attitude to PWDs, and we plan to sign an MOU in order to focus on the challenges of PWDs,” he said.

PWDs are increasingly faced with injustices even from their own families. According to NUDIPU, parents are denying their own children the right to inherit land on the grounds of their disability.

“This is one of the challenges that we have, not only on issues of land rights and food security but also other areas. This is only because the understanding of disability is still limited,” NUDIPU programme manager Martin Ssenoga Kigozi said.

Deborah Iyute (right) Programme director National Organisation of People with Disabilities Uganda (NUDIPU) attends the workshop for people with disabilities on land rights at Hotel Africana Kampala on July 20 2023. (All Photos by Wilfred Sanya)

“Our major concern is access to land, many families do not easily give to PWDs and do not easily get land even from their families, even in terms of inheritance because there is an assumption that they will not be able to use it,” he said.

According to NUDIPU, there is a challenge accessing land and another challenge of using land which complicates the issue of food security and land rights of PWDs. This, Kigozi said, leads to food insecurity for PWDs. 

During the same meeting, several civil society organisations and government representatives from the lands ministry, as well as that of gender were in attendance.

NUDIPU in partnership with the Consortium of African Disability Forum, ZOA, Light for the World and VNG International is implementing a five-year project in the West Nile districts of Arua, Yumbe and Terego, plus the Acholi districts of Omoro and Nwoya. The project focuses on co-creating inclusive governance for increased access to basic resources.

It is for this purpose that a multi-sector engagement with stakeholders specialising in land and food security was organised to share these learnings and build synergies for better inclusion and participation of persons with disabilities in the sectoral programmes.

As such, NUDIPU unveiled a report during the convention that captured some of these ills against these marginalised groups of people whose rights are often denied and trampled upon due to their physical inadequacies.

“But this study was done in limited areas because it is focusing only on Acholi in two districts and in West Nile. So, it cannot give you a very elaborate picture, but we hope going forward, we will be able to get more information.

Ssenoga said NUDIPU is engaging the Uganda Bureau of Statistics in the upcoming census to be able to capture more information on disabilities, but as of now, they [NUDIPU] don’t have the full picture.