One of the very first positive actions of the Mills Administration was the establishment of the National Council on Persons with Disabilities (NCPD). To underscore its importance, he appointed Mr. Andrew Okai-Koi, the husband of the Minister of Information to head the council, but almost immediately after its inauguration, the Council started running into major disagreements with the various disability organizations in the country. The Mail newspaper has reported and commented on it a number of times. Now things are coming to a head and in the coming days, persons with disabilities (PWDs) would hit the streets in protest against actions of the Council. This action, The Mail learnt, would be in reaction to a directive to district assemblies which deny PWDs access to 2% of the District Assembly Common Fund allocated to them. The Mail saw a copy of a letter signed by Mr. Andrew Okai-Koi, directing district assemblies to release the 2% allocation for PWDs to unidentified regional coordinators of the council described in the letter as “the bearers of this communication”. The Mail is informed that PWDs in the Greater Accra Region will hold a press conference on the issue and organizations in the Central and Western regions are planning some action in protest. The disability community advocated for the inclusion of disability as a component in the District Assemblies Common Fund in 2005. Since that time, though PWDs have gone through challenges in accessing the fund from the district and municipal assemblies, they in the end, have had access to it. The Vice President of the Ghana Society of the Physically Disabled, Mr. Atakora Poku, in an interview with The Mail said, “This is a human rights issue and we will fight. We will fight for our rights.” He said the NCPD is an advisory body and has no mandate to direct the affairs of funds meant for PWDs. “It is not part of their mandate and we want the Council to withdraw that letter… How can the Chairman do that? We are informed that other members of the Council did not know of this letter,” Mr. Atakora called on the government, the Ghana Federation of the Disabled and relevant stakeholders to develop strategies for efficient management of the fund for PWDs. “They should do that as soon as possible or we will fight,” he said. In a related development, a group calling itself Concerned Persons with Disabilities last week held a press conference accusing the GFD of malfeasance. The GFD issued a press release denying the allegations and said this group is “neither a member organization of GFD, nor known in the disability movement”. It will be recalled that the GFD advocated for the inauguration of the National Council on Persons with Disabilities, which was done in April this year. Curiously, since the inauguration of the Council, organizations that should be united in promoting the interests of person with disabilities are at each other’s throats, while PWDs continue to suffer. Source: The Mail