The Association of Assembly Members with Disabilities – Ghana has presented an eight-point policy petition to the Parliamentary Caucus on Disability, demanding urgent structural reforms to eliminate barriers in local governance and decentralised administration.
The petition was delivered during the Parliamentary Caucus on Disability’s two-day oversight workshop held in Accra on August 1 and 2, 2026.
Presenting the document, Mr Alexander Tetteh highlighted that despite holding elected and appointed positions in local assemblies, Assembly Members with Disabilities continue to face severe institutional exclusion, inaccessible assembly halls, and administrative marginalisation.
The Assembly Members’ 8-Point Demand:
1. Strengthen 5% DACF Oversight: Establish a national monitoring framework, publish annual utilisation reports, and involve OPDs in fund management.
2. District NCPD Offices: Establish fully resourced offices of the National Council on Persons with Disability in every MMDA.
3. Accessible Public Infrastructure: Conduct immediate accessibility audits of all Assembly buildings and mandate retrofitting budgets.
4. Enforce Local Representation: Strictly enforce statutory disability representation across all Assembly sub-committees.
5. Implement the 5% Employment Quota: Enforce clear recruitment targets and annual compliance reporting across public sector institutions.
6. Leadership Appointments: Appoint qualified PWDs as MMDCEs, board members, and commissioners.
7. Disability Enterprise Fund: Establish dedicated low-interest credit schemes and reserve a percentage of local government procurement for PWD-owned businesses.
8. Private University Scholarships: Extend GETFund and State Secretariat scholarships to qualified PWD students enrolled in accredited private universities.
Responding to the petition and reports of corruption at the district level, the Caucus Chairman, Hon. Dr Clement Apaak, vowed that Parliament will collaborate with the Ministry of Local Government, Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs to crack down on Common Fund fraud.
Dr Apaak spoke against a rising trend where non-disabled individuals fraudulently register to siphon off resources dedicated to vulnerable citizens.
“Together with the Local Government Minister, we will monitor, we will expose, we will shame, and we will hold Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Assemblies (MMDAs) strictly accountable for allowing such fraud to happen,” Dr Apaak warned.
The Caucus promised to integrate the Assembly Members’ recommendations into its official blueprint report to compel local government compliance.
SOURCE: DisabilityNewsGH.com
