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Martha Leboho
Government has been urged to consider increasing representation of disabled people in Parliament to ensure that their needs are adequately articulated at policy formulation level.

Disabled Amalgamation Community Trust (DACT) director Mr Henry Chivhanga said there was urgent need for more representation of people living with disabilities at all levels of governance, particularly after the advent of devolution.

In an interview with The Herald, Mr Chivhanga underscored the need for a constitutional amendment to make it mandatory for every province to have at least one disabled representative in Parliament.

“So far we have two representatives in the Senate and no representative in the National Assembly and we feel that with the low representation, disabled people are at a disadvantage since there is no one to push for their agendas.

“We are actually appealing to the powers that be for support in pushing for an amendment to the Constitution that will ensure every province has at least one representative of disabled persons in Parliament,” he said.

Mr Chivhanga said many challenges afflicting disabled persons required urgent attention at policy making level, hence the need for more representation.

He called for increased participation of disabled persons in the impending introduction of devolution to make sure their views were considered.

There was also need for such people to be fully represented in the lower tiers of Government such as provincial councils and local authorities.

Mr Chivhanga also challenged political parties to consider safe constituencies for the disabled in future so that they can easily make it into Parliament.