What ‘disabled ’ want in the new constitution... FORTY-year-old James Mkwega is the councillor for Gumanga ward, Mkalama district in Singida region. He wants an article in next Katiba dedicated to the rights of people living with disabilities. Mkwega also wants councillors and Village Executive Officers to be renumerated for the job they do because they are closest to the wananchi and play a significant role in running local communities. To him, without them, that concept on local government loses meaning. Those are some of the considerations he wants in the new constitution. But that is not Mkwega’s only highlight. Councillor Mkwega is a Person Living with disability (PLWD), and true to his liking for leadership, he suggests that the next constitution should provide for allocation of more leadership posts for them majorly because they are a minority group but have untapped talent in many ways. “Let us be given more chances in Parliament, but let the constitution also pronounce that PLWDs have free given access to social services,” he said. “The system and way of life is complicated for us. I am here as a councillor because I fought my way through even with the foul language during campaigns of opponents focusing their wrath on my disability,” he said, adding, “So how many potential good leaders are out there but we are missing them because they are afraid of coming out because of the rough environment for them to reach the top?” he queried. Mkwega highlighted his perspectives when he was giving his views to the Constitution Review Commission when it went to Ibaga village, Gumanga ward to collect wananchi’s views on the new constitution. He said it should contain rights of People Living with disabilities along issues of employment and access to social services. He also suggested that they should scrap special seats in Parliament for women and instead give them to People living with disabilities, noting that it should be entrenched in the Constitution in response to the demand for equal opportunity for them, given the prejudicial attitude that have been held about PLWDs in many parts of the country for years. His view was also shared by Ladislaus Massawe, a 22 year old teacher at Kinampanda teachers college,who said that special women’s seats in Parliament should be scrapped and instead given to People Living with Disabilities. The idea of free social services for PLWDs continued to have more support with Augustine Bunda,a 39 year old farmer at Ibaga village,Gumanga ward in Mkalama district, joining Ignus Gota, 45, a farmer at Ibaga village that they should receive free health care and special seat in the Parliamant be allocated to them. The concern for PLWDs went on with Shaban Malise, a 34 year old teacher saying that the health sector should be asked to plan to change physical structures of hospitals for easy PLWD access. He said the Katiba should give them right to access educational institutions and facilities, and the right to reasonable access to all places and public transport. “Involving People Living with Disabilities (PLWDs) in hospital design is important to offset the current situation where many more still don’t access health facilities because of the unfriendly nature of the designs of many public health centres,” he said. He said that making building designs accessible to People Living with disabilities is important for their education institutions as well, because it is inline with the policy on inclusive education. He said that due to the topographical nature of some rural areas, the health facilities situated on hilly points should have these adjustments. “This makes it difficult for People Living with Disabilities (PLWDs) to access such facilities and many of their services thus in a way marginalizing them,” he said. It was raised that hospitals (both private and public) should be welcoming places, and disabled people should not expect difficulties when using a hospital’s facilities. He told the Commission that there are still a large amount of buildings that are hard for such a group of people to access. “We have to get this right. Funding for many district councils may not be able to support this but the next dispensation has to see what works best to meet their needs and to get feedback about the accessibility of existing hospital structures,” he said. He said that for example, the deaf have learnt to compete and succeed in harsh environments where authorities don’t effectively implement policies that concern PLWDs, which in turn would have accorded them equal rights in schools, hospitals, colleges or other institutions. He said that if their circumstances are recognized, they would be able to shatter barriers and seek leadership positions in various fields. He said there is a need to feed more sign language interpreters in more institutions such as hospitals and schools. “How do doctors attend to deaf people when they do not understand sign language? Isn’t it high time the Government employed interpreters in hospitals. This should be a right entrenched in the constitution.” he said The electronic media, he said, have also alienated the deaf. “There are no sign language experts in the studios to help the deaf people follow news on television,” he charged, adding his group is calling for more schools for the deaf across the country. There are about only 40 schools for the deaf across the country. “We need to establish more modern school for the deaf in every district because there are many children with hearing disabilities who cannot attend normal schools,” he said. He added: “Some schools do not even have deaf teachers while those employed either by government have to endure frequent intimidation, mistreatment especially those who raise issues affecting the deaf pupils.” He said most special teachers including the principals cannot even use sign language fluently yet they are expected to serve deaf pupils. “Some education inspectors assigned to monitor special schools, he said, do not even know Sign Language. “Then how can our children’s (living with disability) concerns be addressed,?” he queried. He added, “Considering the huge need we have here, I think more health practitioners should be trained especially in sign language so that they can comfortably communicate with PLWDs when they come to access hospital services,” The line of contribution however extended to other issues. Saidnali Rajab, a farmer at Guwanga said political leaders should be treated in local hospitals, a practice he argued would compel them to make decisions that would improve local social services. Edward Mangesa, an electrician at Mwangeza village said state organs should be non partisan and with no political inclination, especially those that deal with security like the Police. Another farmer, Richard Manjano, 35, suggested that students should be able to tour tourism sites in the country at no cost, since it is the same generation that would have to promote the sector at the international level. Speaking for the health sector, Emmanuel Mlambo, 40, an electrician said that ordinarily, doctors are not questioned when a patient dies in their hands and it is the same person who writes the death certificate. He opined that the next Katiba should provide that if relatives of the deceased are not satisfied with the doctor’s report on the cause of death of their relative, they should be provided to get another independent doctor to prove the exact cause of death through post mortem.