13 Dec 2020

Parliament has been urged to request the government to consider acceptance of close individuals or relatives as proxy for People with Disabilities (PWDs) in income-generating projects funding applications for institutions such as CEDA, Youth Development Fund and LIMID.

Presenting the motion in Parliament on Thursday, Maun East MP Mr Goretetse Kekgonegile said his argument centred on the fact that PLWDs had the same social and economic needs like all members of the community.

The motion, he said was motivated by the need to acknowledge the extra costs of living with disability which increased with more severe impairments and the reality that disability without affirmative action programmes contributed towards high poverty levels.

He said the motion also sought to acknowledge the need for disability inclusiveness responses to the COVID -19 pandemic and emerging socio-economic shock wave.

Further, Mr Kekgonegile highlighted the need to advocate for deliberately targeted business grants for disabled entrepreneurs beyond the physically challenged to include visually impaired.

He reiterated that business grants should be extended to PWDs with intellectual and multiple disabilities who were accompanied by relatives and guardians as their proxies.

He noted that the proxies would act as their advocates and lifetime caregivers whom PWDs wholly depended on.

Though acknowledging the potential challenges of PWDs being cheated out of business by the proxies, he emphasised the need to create robust legislation and regulations that could safeguard against any fraudulent acts.

He said the 2011 census projections placed Botswana’s PWD population at 150 000 which made it 6.3 per cent of the population noting that there was exclusion of PLWDs in the mainstream agenda.

Mr Kekgonegile expressed worry over the exclusion particularly in the provision of user-friendly public transport facilities. He added there was also no labour legislation protecting PWDs as there was exploitation in a pro-employers system.

He thus said it should be Parliament’s obligation to assist PWDs to cope with limitations and an effort to empower them.

He noted that an inclusive democracy meant, among other things, to facilitate socio-economic functioning.

Mr Kekgonegile said as the legislation making institution, Parliament should protect and empower PWDs and relieve them from permanent dependency on government social safety nets.

Responding to the motion, Minister for Presidential Affairs, Governance and Public Administration, Mr Kabo Morwaeng reaffirmed government’s efforts to support PWDs through among others establishment of a coordinating office for people with disabilities, which is under the Office of the  President.

He dismissed the motion as redundant, saying the government was systematically supporting PLWDs to have better livelihoods.

He also cited the introduction of the Disability Entrepreneurship programme for People with Disabilities policy being one such initiative.

The initiative, he said provided training for PWDs on how to start businesses from scratch and on how to maintain already existing businesses, keeping them afloat and growing them to become sustainable.

He further said the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Board also had an affirmative action programme to assist PWDs through local procurement schemes which assisted their enterprises in various locations to gain business. ENDS