The Board of the National Council for Persons with Disability (NCPD) was inaugurated yesterday by Vice-President John Mahama in fulfillment of the NDC’s electoral promise to inaugurate the council in its 100 days in office. Mr Mahama said the government was committed to developing the potential of all Ghanaians and urged members of the board to ensure that the Disability Law which was passed about three years ago was enforced. "He again asked the board to ensure the passage of a Legislative Instrument (LI) to enable it to have the two per cent of the Dis¬trict Assemblies Common Fund for the disabled. “We passed the Disability Bill three years ago and ever since there has been advocacy for the establishment of the council to give effect to Act 715. I urge you to ensure that these laws are enforced,” he said. Justifying the importance of the inauguration, he said the average disability rate of five per cent or a million Ghanaian citizens, based on the national population figure also needed to be accorded equal rights. Mr Mahama expressed concern over some traditional practices that inhibited the growth and development of persons with disability, particularly children stressing that this practice “must completely be obliterated”. He announced that an office building was being renovated for the board to enable it to begin work immediately. The Minister of Employment and Social Welfare, Mr Stephen Amoanor Kwao, said the inauguration of the board would serve as a catalyst to bring more persons with disability to the mainstream of life and pledged the government’s commitment to champion the cause of disabled persons. The Chairman of the board, Mr Andrew Okaikoi, described the inauguration as the “culmination of many years of persistent effort and persuasion of goodwill and concern” and lauded the efforts of the leadership of the Ghana Association of the Blind, the Ghana National Association of the Deaf, the Ghana Society for the Physically Disabled and the Federation of the Disabled and its other member organizations. He said although the task ahead of the board was great - to mobilise a significant, under-served segment of the society towards economic, productive and useful activity - the members would live up to it. Source: Daily Graphic