A coalition of unemployed graduates with disabilities has threatened to resume picketing after September 15 if the government fails to present a concrete plan to address the employment challenges facing qualified persons with disabilities.
The Coalition of Unemployed Graduates with Disabilities said its previous ultimatum had expired without a satisfactory roadmap.
In a petition to Parliament’s Minority Leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, the group stressed: “We are not asking for charity, we are demanding our fundamental right to work”.
The coalition is calling for the immediate recruitment of about 400 unemployed tertiary-educated persons with disabilities into the public sector, enforcement of employment quotas, and incentives for private employers who hire persons with disabilities.
It also wants a policy requiring Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies and state-owned enterprises to reserve a specific percentage of recruitment opportunities for qualified persons with disabilities.
The group said previous engagements with the Ministers for Gender, Children and Social Protection and Employment and Labour Relations had failed to produce a meaningful solution.
It also pointed to a recent Ghana Education Service recruitment exercise, claiming that none of the 200 qualified potential teachers it submitted with the Ghana Federation of Disability Organisations was selected during the recruitment of 7,000 teachers.
After earlier demonstrations, including picketing at Jubilee House, the protesters temporarily suspended their action following assurances that their leaders would meet President John Dramani Mahama.
However, the coalition said attempts to follow up with the presidential staffer who received its petition had received no response.
The group warned: “If this approach does not yield any positive result, there will be another crazy picketing after the 15th of this month which will never be suspended until our demands are met,”
The coalition said its demands are supported by Article 29 of the 1992 Constitution, the Persons with Disability Act, 2006 (Act 715), and the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
“Our disability is not an inability; it is a unique perspective that can enrich our national workforce,” the group ended.
