Monrovia — People with Disabilities (PWDs) make up 16 percent of Liberia's population, according to Unicef. However, challenges continue to abound for them.
Wilfred Gewon, 47, is a visually impaired man who holds a master's in Inclusive Education from the University of Kerala in India. Despite his impressive education credentials, he says he fights a daunting battle daily to seek gainful employment.
"Whenever we talk about employment, some state officials always make a reference to Noah Zarwu Gibson," he says.
Noah Zarwu Gibson, also visually impaired, is a vociferous supporter of the Unity Party, and one of the deputy directors appointed by President Joseph Nyuma Boakai at the National Transit Authority.
"Noah is getting his just benefits of being a supporter of the governing Unity Party (UP), over the years. I'm convinced that if any disabled person runs a campaign for a political party and the [that] party wins, that person will be employed," he noted.
He added that the government is making no effort to address the dilemma Persons with Disabilities in Liberia face despite numerous advocacies from civil society and other human rights organizations.
"The government must stop using Noah's appointment for glory-seeking because Noah is a politician. It is time for the employment of disabled persons to go beyond political parties so that we can get jobs," he said.
"I'm a qualified person, and a citizen of Liberia, who has been seeking for a job in the past administration as well as in the present administration. Yet nobody in government wants to address my quest for employment which is a right, and not a privilege, especially when I am professionally qualified to work," he stressed.
According to him, he was promised a presidential appointment at the Ministry of Education when the Unity Party-led government of President Boakai won in 2023; but nine months later, it is yet to come to fruition.
The population of persons with disabilities in Liberia currently stands at 110,260, according to the African Disability Rights Yearbook. Females constitute 53,698 (48.7%) while males constitute 56,562 (51.3%).
The Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), estimated in 2014 that due to the devastating civil war that ended in 2003 and the Ebola outbreak in 2014, the population of people with disabilities in Liberia is likely closer to 20 percent.
While Liberia is a signatory to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities (CRPD), the organization states that much has not been done to protect PWDs from discrimination.
Since the ratification of the CRPD, the country has taken several measures, including creating the National Commission on Disabilities, but the organization says the government needs to go a step further. .
Albert Kemorkai, 35, is a teacher at the United Blind Association of Liberia. Kemokai teaches braille to students who are visually impaired like himself.
He said it is saddening that most physically challenged persons are on the streets begging.
From L-R: Wilfred and John sitting in one of their classrooms.
"We are tired of begging on the streets for daily economic survival," he stressed. "Spaces for PWDs to be employed are being occupied by able-bodied people, and we are marginalized. Public officials have not implemented the 4% employment for us as contained in our laws. Hunger is killing us."
"We were promised during the 2023 election that our plights were going to be addressed by President Boakai, but now, we don't have any access to him. Frustratingly, government officials are not seeking our interests at the various ministries and agencies," he emphasized.
His colleague, John Kollie, shares Kemokai's fate. Kollie, 32, describes the unemployment crisis being faced by People with Disabilities in Liberia as being frustrating.
The United Blind Association where Wilfred and John teach Braille
"Once the president appoints officials at the Disable Commission [National Commission on Disability], they no longer hear our cries."
He added that the rights of PWDs are violated including but not limited to the right to employment. In previous years when the government provided subsidies to the institutions, it has been halted leaving the institution and many others to feel the pinch.
Furthermore, he added, learning institutions for children with disabilities are not available to enable them to access quality education that would make them national assets.
NCD Hamstrung
The fight for the rights of Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) in Liberia continues to be an ongoing battle, as many qualified PWDs in Liberia continue to raise the alarm about these significant barriers.
Despite the 2005 Act which created the National Commission for Disabilities, to promote inclusivity and other essential opportunities, the starkness of the reality is many are still struggling to keep their heads above water and earn a place in the labor force.
The legislation was a crucial step forward, but yet implementation appears to have fallen short of expectations as more PWDs like Wilfred Gewon, Albert Kollie. and John Kemokai are wrought with the pain of marginalization.
The National Commission on Disabilities (NCD), which was established to advocate for the rights of PWDs and ensure their proper integration into Liberian society, says it continues to be hamstrung by many factors.
According to Samuel Dean, Executive Director of the National Commission on Dis, the organization faces numerous challenges in fulfilling its statutory mission.
He said funding is grossly inadequate to help the commission meet its goal of helping individuals like Albert, Wilfred, and John.
"This serves as a major stumbling block for the Commission to carry out effective programs including initiatives that could support qualified PWDs in their pursuit of employment opportunities," he added
Article 27 of the 2005 Act which created the National Commission on Disability highlights that for every 100 persons employed in a public institution, 4% must be PWDs.
Dean revealed that the government still needs to meet this goal as enshrined in the law. He vowed to keep negotiating with the Government to address the plights of PWDS nationwide.
It remains to be seen whether that will happen in the foreseeable future, which appears bleak. But for now, The Ministry of Labor and the NCD are not in sync.
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An official at the Ministry of Labor, who felt of revealing whether the Ministry is working with the National Commission on Disability, hinted journalRAGE that they are working to create employment-friendly conditions for people with disabilities.
"At most workplaces across the country, employers have been putting in place a system for the accommodation of disabled," said an official of the Ministry who is not authorized to speak.
The official disclosed that the Ministry has a division whose primary responsibility is to inspect all workplaces nationwide to ensure adherence to the labor law for persons with disabilities.
Gov't Willfully Violates Rights of PWDs
Access to employment by persons with disability is a human right that the government continues to willfully ignore, according to Atty. Urias Teh Pour, Executive Director of the Independent National Human Rights Commission.
He revealed that the Commission continues to flag the government's violation of the Disabled Rights Act in its annual report on Liberia's human rights situation. The Act, he said, calls for the inclusion of PWDs in the public sector.
"As I speak, most Government entities [buildings] are not disabled-friendly. Even when the act is adhered to, how will these disabled locate their offices without the assistance of climbing stairs and so on? Including our buildings, the INCHR is not disabled friendly".
'This story was funded by the European Union under the Liberia Media Empowerment Project (LMEP). Its contents are the sole responsibility of journalRAGE and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union.'
