Districts decry poor funding for the disabled

Feb 05, 2015

DISTRICT leaders have expressed concern over the sh3 million they receive for community based rehabilitation services for PWDs, quoting the sum as “very inadequate.”

By Derrick Kyatuka and John Agaba

 

DISTRICT leaders have expressed concern over the sh3 million they receive for community based rehabilitation services for persons with disabilities (PWDs), quoting the sum as “very inadequate.”

 

The leaders referred to the amount, which they receive quarterly, as peanuts that cannot enable them to fully coordinate and implement PWDs programs at the district level, requesting government to look into the matter.

 

Mityana district Chief Administrative Officer Anthony Yiga on Thursday described the poor funding as challenging especially when budgeting for the money.

 

“How do you budget for sh3million? That is what the case has been. That is what government can afford to give for PWDs. But, it is very inadequate,” the former Kalungu West legislator said.

 

A community development officer in Iganga district who preferred anonymity told that their CBR (Community Based Rehabilitation) Programme for PWDs used to boom prior to 2002, “when we stopped receiving CBR funding from NAD (Norwegian Association of Disabled) and the Central Government.”

 

“The District Disability and Elderly Desk is financed through local revenue which has immensely diminished. I only receive sh2m per annum to facilitate my travels to purchase some assistive devices and to run the office with all its stationary and sundries. This is a tenth of what I require to successfully undertake my duties,” he said.

 

A report by the CBR Africa Network released at the Silver Springs Hotel in Bugolobi, Kampala, shows that districts get as low as sh3m per quarter for rehabilitation services of PWDs. And the money is available in only 26 of the 112 districts in Uganda.

 

“This poses challenges of ensuring every PWD has access to education, health services and the other social rights,” Anthony Enyogu said presenting the report conducted in 46 districts in Uganda in 2014.

 

“There is a funding gap. And these have to be harmonized. We need to know the exact number of PWDs in every district so we can plan better for them,” he said.

 

The plight of PWDs in Uganda is not a new song. In 2013, state minister for the elderly and persons with disabilities Sulaiman Madada revealed that Cabinet had approved amendments to the Persons with Disabilities Act 2006, including a section punishing education institutions that fail to provide learning materials to children with special needs. But this has remained a far cry.

 

A 2012 survey by Phylis Kwesiga, architect with Uganda Society of Architects, on the state of accessibility of Kampala buildings shows that only one percent of the buildings in the capital have accessibility features for PWDs.

 

Enyogu said there is a need for more funding and harmonization of the revenue going into the PWDs basket and the implementation of the law so PWDs can access their rights.

 

Grace Musoke, the head of the CBR Africa Network, said “where Government fails we have other actors like the religious and other NGOs that come in to cushion the gap, but there is need for more funding.”

 

Fred Onduri, the commissioner for youth and children’s affairs in the gender ministry said Government was committed to the plight of PWDs.

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