A coalition of Organisations of Persons with Disabilities (OPDs) has issued a direct appeal to the Executive and Legislature, demanding immediate administrative and legislative clearance of the Persons with Disabilities Bill, 2026.
The joint demand was presented during a national press engagement in Accra on Monday, July 13, 2026.
The coalition, representing various national disability associations, called on President John Dramani Mahama and the Speaker of Parliament, Rt. Hon. Alban Bagbin, to treat the stalled Bill as a matter of national priority.
This joint mobilisation represents a significant escalation of the advocacy campaign launched last month.
As DisabilityNewsGH.com previously reported on June 25, the Ghana Federation of Disability Organisations (GFD) marked the 20th anniversary of the original Persons with Disabilities Act, 2006 (Act 715) with an initial, urgent demand for Cabinet action.
Two weeks later, with the Bill still awaiting Cabinet clearance, the broader disability movement has reunited to turn those demands into a direct, collective ultimatum.
Although the disability community was extensively engaged throughout the review process, leaders revealed that they had expected to be furnished with a copy of the final draft before its submission to Cabinet.
Because they have not yet received this final version, advocates are currently unable to verify whether all their proposed clauses have been maintained in their exact form or if administrative adjustments have been made.
Responding to a question from DisabilityNewsGH.com regarding this phase of the process, Mr Alexander Bankole Williams, a prominent representative of the disability movement, shared a constructive perspective on how the community is navigating the timeline.
Mr Williams explained that when the GFD made a formal request for a copy of the final draft, they were informed that the document sent to Cabinet remains classified and cannot be made public until it is formally submitted to Parliament.
While the community is working within this administrative protocol for now, their focus has shifted to ensuring that the draft laid before Parliament faithfully reflects their original inputs.
“The Bill the disability community submitted to the Ministry for Gender, Children and Social Protection to be transmitted to Parliament contains what, in the views of persons with disabilities, is relevant to better uphold our rights,” Mr Williams explained. “We are, therefore, entreating our representatives in Parliament to ensure that the final outcome of this review does not replicate the existing Act 715, but is actually rich enough to better uphold our rights as espoused in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD).”
With this objective in mind, the GFD and its partner organisations have promised to keep their eyes on the timeline and constructively “police the process” as the Bill transitions to the legislature.
According to the 2021 Population and Housing Census, there are more than 2.1 million individuals living with disabilities in Ghana, representing approximately eight per cent of the national population.
Advocacy leaders argue that these citizens have spent twenty years waiting for the full realisation of their fundamental human rights under domestic law.
The Persons with Disabilities Act (Act 715) was enacted in 2006. While the legislation marked an initial step towards inclusion, advocates say its provisions remain out of alignment with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), which Ghana signed in 2008 and ratified in 2012.
The revised Persons with Disabilities Bill, 2026, was developed to align domestic laws with these international human rights obligations under Article 4(1)(b) of the CRPD. However, the legislation remains at the draft stage.
Addressing the media, coalition representatives directed specific, actionable demands to three key political offices to expedite the passage of the Bill before the end of the current legislative session:
• To His Excellency the President: The coalition called for immediate and expedited Cabinet approval of the Persons with Disabilities Bill, 2026, noting that the document has already reached the Cabinet level and should face no further bureaucratic delays.
• To the Minister for Gender, Children, and Social Protection: The coalition requested active ministerial leadership to ensure the prompt transmission of the Bill to Parliament following Cabinet clearance, alongside the early preparation of the corresponding Legislative Instruments (LIs) required for its execution.
• To the Rt. Hon. Speaker and Members of Parliament: The advocates demanded that the Bill be prioritised immediately upon its formal submission to the House, debated thoroughly but expeditiously, and passed into law before the current Parliament rises.
“The disability community has waited patiently for twenty years,” the coalition stated in its joint press declaration. “The wait is over. We are now demanding the protection of our rights under the law.”
The statement was jointly supported by the Ghana National Association of the Deaf, the Ghana Federation of Disability Organisations (GFD), Inclusion Ghana, the Ghana Society of the Physically Disabled (GSPD), the Ghana Blind Union, the Inclusive Family Alliance, and the Mental Health Society of Ghana.
The press enagagement was funded by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).
SOURCE: DisabilityNewsGH.com
