President William Ruto in October last year at the Kenya Institute of Special Education, asserted the State’s commitment that “every child should have the chance to fulfil their potential and rise to the highest level of accomplishment that their intellect, their talent, their knowledge and determination can allow. This is our duty as parents, as a society, as a Government and as a people.”
This message resonated deeply with persons with disabilities, and parents/caregivers of children with disabilities. Next week, as Kenya marks 20 years of progress in disability inclusion, the moment marks a special opportunity to reflect on the path the country has travelled in promoting the rights of persons with disabilities, and look into the future.
Kenya’s disability agenda is a progressive one, and accords persons with disabilities a whole variety of rights, programmes and privileges. This has made making many nations across the world to benchmark with for best practices on matters disability inclusion. But this has not always been the case.
The story of disability dates back pre-independence time, at a time when these rights were non-existent. In 1959, the disability conversation hit the news waves in Kenya and globally when John Kimuyu, a blind man from Makueni, wed Ms. Ruth Holloway – a white British missionary in a brief ceremony in Nairobi.
The Taifa, a Swahili weekly which later became the current Daily Nation, published in January 6th 1959 that Kipofu Mkamba aoa Mzungu – a story that shattered both racial and stigma barriers.
Kimuyu passed on and was laid to rest in November last year in Makueni – just to show you how the Kenyan disability story is still very young when placed in the larger historical context.
In the same year, the Kenya Union of the Blind marched to the then Prime Minister’s office at Harambee House, seeking to have their calls for inclusion heard. The founding father President Jomo Kenyatta established the Ngala Mwendwa Committee for the Care and Rehabilitation of the Disabled – which gave a raft of recommendations including the establishment of special schools for leaners with disabilities and Government’s support for them.
Equally, in 1964, a Commission led by Prof. Simeon Ominde gave out several recommendations including the integration of students with mild disabilities in regular schools.
Then in 1980, former President Daniel Moi conducted a national fundraiser to aid persons with disabilities, subsequently establishing the National Fund for the Disabled of Kenya.
His administration is also credited for several reforms in the education sector to support learners with disabilities, as well as the establishment of the Kenya Institute of Special Education in 1986.
Fast-forward to 2002, then President Mwai Kibaki came into office, at a special time when Kenyans were said to be the happiest in the world. He had just come from a terrible road accident, and was sworn into office while on a wheelchair.
On December 31st 2003, barely months from his wheelchair, he signed the first disability law of the land – the Persons with Disabilities Act 2003. At the time, I wasn’t a person with disability, so I couldn’t understand what the image of the swearing-in ceremony or the new law meant to millions of persons with disabilities across the country.
As fate would have it, four years later I was involved in a tragic road accident and acquired disability – becoming a permanent wheelchair user. This indeed sends a stark message to all, especially the majority who are non-disabled: that the laws and programmes we put in place today are not for a certain category or group of people, but for all of us. You never know when they will be your lifeline.
The Persons with Disabilities Act 2003 came with a set of services for persons with disabilities such as provision of assistive devices, education assistance for leaners with disabilities, income tax exemption, registration, disability mainstreaming among others.
It also established the National Council for Persons with Disabilities (NCPWD), the sole state agency mandated to champion and protect the rights of persons with disabilities in Kenya.
The administration of the fourth President Uhuru Kenyatta also introduced the Access to Government Procurement Opportunities (AGPO), setting aside 30 percent of government procurement opportunities to youth, women and persons with disabilities.
The current administration by President Ruto has set its sights on socio-economic empowerment of persons with disabilities, as well as 100 percent universal health coverage for all persons with disabilities.
It’s now been 20 years since the NCPWD was established – the inflection point when the Kenyan disability agenda actually took off. To reaffirm Kenya’s commitment on the rights of persons with disabilities, the Constitution places persons with disabilities under the Bill of Rights in Chapter 4.
Kenya also co-hosted with the United Kingdom the first Global Disability Summit in 2018 – setting a series of commitments including generation of accurate disability disaggregated data.
The cash transfer programme for persons with disabilities who require 24-hour care now supports over 60,000 households, a rise from 2,100 in 2010.
Focus is now being given to disabilities that had been ignored for a long time such as autism and related developmental disabilities, the plight of caregivers, and children with disabilities have access to education scholarships and mentorships.
The disability medical assessment is devolved to the counties and the registration process has been digitized and onboarded on eCitizen for self-application for registration, opening doors of opportunities for services.
Persons with disabilities are increasingly getting elective seats every election cycle, and the employment for persons with disabilities, despite still being below the Constitutional five percent threshold is slowly rising.
And yet, challenges still abound that hold back full realization of disability inclusion. 20 years on, we lack a national disability policy to enjoin both public and private sectors into promoting disability inclusion.
Similarly, the 2003 Act is not only not in conformity to the Constitution, but also did not envision the coming of devolution and the role of county governments in promoting disability inclusion in their devolved units.
The Public Service Commission, in its 2023 Status of Compliance with Values and Principles in Articles 10 and 232 of the Constitution shows the share of persons with disabilities employed in public service at a paltry 1.53 percent, way below the Constitutional threshold of five percent 14 years since the promulgation of the new Constitution.
This also resembles the findings in the Status Report on Disability Inclusion 2024 released by NCPWD which put the figure at 1.32 percent. The disability mainstreaming performance indicator, which mandated public entities to report on their disability mainstreaming efforts, was also removed from the Government’s Performance Contract in 2023, further reversing gains made since its introduction in 2010.
Accessibility in built environment and public transport for persons with disabilities remains a teething issue, exacerbated by the inability to enforce adjustment orders. Similarly, funding is not commensurate with a growing demand, aggravated by donor and partner exhaustion.
The Kenya National Bureau of Statistics places the number of persons with disabilities in Kenya at about a million – a figure highly contested by persons with disabilities and their organizations. The World Health Organization (WHO) sets the occurs of disability in a population at about 16 percent – which would place the number of persons with disabilities at about eight million countrywide.
Disability is also on the rise. Advancements in health has shifted the causes of disability from diseases such as polio, measles, to a new set of factors such as road accidents, lifestyle diseases and an increasing life expectancy. This is indeed a population that is no longer on the periphery of the society, but a significant constituent in our nation.
While a lot has been done, a lot still needs to be done. The ever-ballooning demand for disability services calls for joint efforts across all players to actualize the unmet needs. A chance to celebrate the successes in the last two decades accords the country a rare opportunity to engage in a discourse on what state and non-state actors can do to achieve more.
On the legislative front, it calls for review of the two-decade old disability law to have it reflect present realities. On the policy side, it presents an opportunity for concerted efforts to adopt Kenya’s first disability policy.
On the accessibility side, it presents a rare chance for joint synergies in ensuring public and private amenities are accessible for persons with disabilities.
As Kenya marks this historic milestone, I urge all Kenyans, with and without disabilities, to reflect on their collective and individual roles to make Kenya a barrier-free society for all, fighting stigma through changing hearts and minds – and affirming in the words of the President that Kenya is a country of all people.
– Harun M Hassan, CEO, National Council for Persons with Disabilities
Email: harunassan@gmail.com | harun.hassan@ncpwd.go.ke
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