Kadaga decries reluctance to hire people with disabilities

Jun 17, 2012

Rebecca Kadaga has decried the reluctance by corporate organizations to hire people with disability.

By Henry Sekanjako

The speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kadaga has decried the reluctance by corporate organizations to hire people with disability (PWDs) fsaying they have been sidelined.

According to Kadaga, majority of the disabled persons are always left out during recruitment exercise by such companies which affect their right to employment.

“We should all recruit disabled people into corporate bodies and avoid the stigma,” Kadaga said.

She made the remarks over the weekend during the Second Tumaini awards gala at Hotel African in Kampala.

Kadaga said there was need for all corporate organizations to put in place facilities that are favorable for people with disabilities for a better working environment.

“Let us walk the talk and make the conditions for disabled persons favorable. How many of our corporate bodies have 10 percent facilities for these people to access,” she asked.

She added; “such people need support, and protection, which police officer can take a statement from a deaf child, all these areas need to be improved upon”.

According to the Uganda National Household Survey 2005/2006, currently 7.2% (2.5 million) Ugandans have a disability. Most of these people however lack formal employment caused by stigma and poor education.

The 2002 national census indicated that only 2.2% of PWDs in Uganda have attained secondary level education. The same survey revealed that 90% of PWDs in Uganda do not go beyond Primary Level education. This may partly explain why employment opportunities are scarce for the PWDs.

 Section 12 of part III of the Disability Act 2006 states that a person shall not discriminate against a qualified person based on disability regarding any job application procedure, hiring, promotion, compensation, job training and other terms, conditions and privileges of employment.

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