By: Problyn J Alpha
Vandy Konneh, Chairman and Chief Commissioner of the National Commission for Persons Living with Disabilities (NCPD), said the commission is working on plans for people with disabilities to have free access to public transport across the country by 2025.
Commissioner Konneh made the pronouncement during his familiarization visit and awareness-raising tour for persons with disabilities in Kono District.
Giving a brief history of the commission, chairman Konneh maintained that the commission was established in 2012 as provided for in section two of the Persons with disability Act 2011, adding the Act itself is a domesticated form of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of persons with disabilities (UNCRPD) and article thirty-five (35) provides that state parties should establish an implementing Agency of convention thus being an Act to establish the National commission for persons living with disabilities to prohibit discrimination against persons living with disabilities, achieve equalization of opportunities for persons with disabilities and provide for other related matters.
The vision is to create a conducive atmosphere in which all categories of persons with disabilities can live independently and dignifiedly.
The commission, he said, is working tooth and nail to ensure that the government of Sierra Leone enacts the Persons with Disability Act 2011 as a law that enables disabled people to have free access to public transport across Sierra Leone to cushion the transportation challenges disabled people face in the country. Drivers who refuse to make their vehicles accessible to disabled people would lose their licenses, he opined.
