2019: Person with Disabilities seek Electoral Laws Amendment for Inclusion
Ahead of the 2019 General Elections the Inclusive Friends Association (IFA) has urged the National Assembly to amend Section 56 (2) of the Electoral Act to ensure that off-sight voting, provision of braille and or tactile are mandatory for voters with disabilities.
The Executive Director of IFA Ms Grace Jerry made the call yesterday in Abuja at the maiden edition of “Access Nigeria Quarterly Roundtable on PWD-Inclusive Elections in Nigeria” organised by IFA, USAID, NDI, UKaid and Access Nigeria.
“The amendment of Section 56 (2) to make provision of braille or tactile ballots and off site voting mandatory will help increase the participation of Persons With Disabilities (PWDs) in the electoral process. Beginning with the 2018 Appropriation Act, the National Assembly should regularly provide funds in the national budget for braille and tactile ballots, accessible voting cubicles, written instructions and sign language interpreters to enable PWDs participate effectively in pre-election and Elections Day processes,” Jerry said.
She said Nigeria’s 27.3m PWDs cannot continued to be ignored due to the positive impact they are contributing to national development.
“The objective of this first edition is to build consensus on implementation timeless on the commendable commitments made by different stakeholders. The is most urgent because we are now 338 days to the 2019 general elections and 121 and 191 days to the Ekiti and Osun governorship elections, respectively. We need to set timelines and begin acting on them immediately. IPA and JONAPWD have shared a concept note with INEC on how to capture the data of PWDs, disaggregated by type of disability, and pledged our partnership to achieve this as part of our contributions to accessible elections,” she said.
On her part, the House of Representatives Committee on Electoral and Political Parties Matters Hon. Aishatu Jibril Dukku said that before the 1970s, most legislation dealing with the challenges faced by disabled persons were more concerned with the provision of some form of social security or public assistance benefits.
“There ‘was a change in the 1970s and 1980s centered on the rights of disabled people to the same protection under the law as enjoyed by the rest of the population. We must bring about spirited efforts in establishing legal rights of people with disabilities as bona fide members of the society. We must strive to establish that they be considered on the basis of individual merit, not on some stereotyped assumption about disability. The society must make certain changes to enable them participate more meaningfully in secular activities and that includes our electoral process.”
“I am of the view that for PWDs, voting is not just about casting ballots, it is about belonging to the human race. It is important for them to have that joy of full participation and access to Nigeria’s political and electoral processes to enable them contribute to national development,” she said.
Also, the Chairman of the Independent Electoral National Commission (INEC) Prof. Mahmood Yakubu said that INEC as an institution is committed to conduct, free, fair, credible and inclusive elections and is not unmindful of the plight of PWDs in Nigeria.
Represented by a National Commissioner and Chairman Outreach and Partnership Committee of INEC Dr. Adekunle Ogunmola, Yakubu the commission initiated several measures to ensure that PWDs are mainstreamed into the electoral process and that this was done through widespread targeted voter education and sensitization of PWDs in Nigeria.
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