Towards Demystifying the African Decade of Persons with Disabilities, 1999-2009

On 12 August 2004, a two-member team from the African Decade of Persons with Disabilities secretariat in Cape Town, South Africa was in Nairobi. The team led by Thomas Ongolo, himself a Kenyan, was on a review and study mission on how far Kenya had performed with regards to the African Decade National Action Plan. The team met and held frank and extensive discussions with the Kenya National Steering Committee for the Decade. Kenya has made substantive progress in the realization of the decade objectives and aspirations. Of course a lot still remains to be done.

The review meeting noted that: (1) Kenya had enacted the Persons with Disabilities Act 2003, (2) progress on getting a new Disability Policy and National Disability Survey conducted were in top gear, (3) government funding and allocation to the disability sector had dramatically increased especially through the Ministry of Education in the current financial year, and (4) for the first time in the history of Kenya, there was profound goodwill, commitment and political leadership in support of the disability cause.

But, it was also noted that: (5) awareness of the African Decade and the national action plan particularly at the grassroot level was minimal, (6) the current constitutional review process was bogging down Kenyan efforts at completing the policy and legal reform process in favour of the disabled population, (7) despite the prevailing political goodwill from the government, no significant appointments of people with disabilities in key state organs of planning and decision-making have been made, (8) Kenya still lacks a comprehensive monitoring and evaluation plan for the decade and (9) despite the development in 2004 of a good national action plan of the decade, no concrete strategy exists for the mobilization of the massive resources required for its implementation.

It was also evident that development partners have not shown much enthusiasm for the action plan. We haven't seen their commitment or indication that they will support it. Clearly, the lives of disabled persons remain largely the same, despite the development of the Nation Plan of Action early this year. Nothing dramatic has changed! Indeed, the demystification of the decade and support for its dream and spirit and its internalization by all the relevant actors need to be intensified. Not just in Kenya but across Africa. The unpacking and popularization of the decade across Africa is a cardinal responsibility of African Governments in particular and the African Union leadership in general.

A little history about the African decade of persons with disabilities

Disabled people's organisations (DPOs), in collaboration with the OAU held a number of meetings at which the idea of having an African Decade was discussed. Extensive consultations were carried out between DPOs, non-governmental organisations, UN agencies, the African Rehabilitation Institute (ARI), governments and other stakeholders.

The African Decade of Persons with Disabilities (1999 - 2009) is the result of a recommendation made by the Labour and Social Affairs Commission of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) during its 22 nd Session in April 1999 in Windhoek, Namibia and adopted by the 35 th Session of the OAU Assembly of Heads of State and Government held in Algeria in July 1999. A formal Declaration of the Decade was subsequently adopted by the 36 th Session of the OAU Heads of State and Governments in Lome, Togo in July 2000.

Responsibility for organisation and monitoring of states' progress in the implementation of the Decade was given to the least resourced African Rehabilitation Institute (ARI), a specialized agency of OAU and now AU, headquartered in Harare, Zimbabwe. ARI has regional offices located in Dakar, Senegal for West Africa, Brazzaville, Congo for Central Africa and Harare for Southern Africa. ARI shares this responsibility and is supposed to collaborate in the planning and execution of Decade activities with DPOs, in particular the Pan African Federation of Disabled Persons (PAFOD), the African Union of the Blind (AFUB) and governments and other regional organisations of persons with disabilities. Courtesy of the South African government, the African Decade of Persons with Disabilities now has a secretariat in Cape Town, South Africa.

It is worth noting that many African states have not matched South African's efforts, have so far made no commitments to provide financial support to the implementation of the African Decade; thus five (5) years have passed without implementation of any program of activities due to lack of resources. So why did they proclaim the Decade in the first place? Why for instance hasn't the AU appointed a goodwill Ambassador for the Decade? What about member states at national levels?

A catalyst, not a panacea

The goal of the Decade is the full participation, equality and empowerment of people with disabilities in Africa. But it's important to realize that the African Decade is not and can't be a panacea to all the needs and concerns of Africans with Disabilities. It is not a miracle project for these populations. It is not a stand-alone initiative. The African Decade of the Disabled Persons is only meant to ignite and galvanize more interest in the disability cause. To give greater impetus, focus, action and reflection on the cause of total inclusion. To catalyze the process of disability mainstreaming and empowerment of the disabled population in Africa. To put disability and the concerns of the disabled within the development and human rights paradigm. To hasten and quicken the intellectualization of the disability question, to give it weight as a serious African issue, a major African subject. But more importantly, for the African leadership to prioritize it in all major initiatives to re-engineer the African Continent. A Disability Renaissance of sorts!

African Decade should be about inclusive efforts and attitudes

In black and white, the decade is about all the little initiatives that we should undertake aimed at inclusion. It is about efforts we should put in to have not only, a safe public transport policy, but also a disability friendly and facilitative one, for instance. It is also about our thinking, perceptions and attitudes towards those with disabilities. The African decade is not a parallel or rival program or a reinvention of the wheel for the disabled. It is also about a local chief or councillor embracing it and making it part of his/her public education and sensitization agenda.

The African Decade is about Public Health specialists reflecting on and including the concerns of the disabled in the HIV/AIDS, malaria, sexual reproductive health initiatives and design and construction of public utilities. Folks, it's about engineers and designers of the physical environment including housing, thinking about these populations in their public works. It is about making sure that our schools have room for children with special needs. It is an "all about us all" approach, and not a "them and us" issue.

Development partners and NGOs like talking about capacity building and advocacy. The African Decade reminds them of the existence of the disabled population. It serves to remind them of the numerous capacity needs of the disabled population, and their lobbies and groups; and invites them to participate in addressing these needs. Are the development partners, the so-called human rights watchdogs and other NGOs reading this? The private sector, the media, the church, ordinary folks, presidents, members of parliament, all have a responsibility to make a difference

The African Decade just as the United Nations Day of Disabled Persons is a reminder that people with disabilities exist amidst us. And by the way, who is disabled? If you fail to see the person, but only the disability, then who is blind? If you cannot hear your brother's cry for justice, who is deaf? If you do not communicate with your sister, but separate her from you, who is disabled? If your heart or mind does not reach out to your neighbour, who has the mental handicap? If you do not stand up for the rights of all persons, who is the cripple? Ladies and gentlemen, your attitude towards persons with disabilities may be their biggest handicap and yours too!

As William Shakespeare said in the "Twelfth Night", in nature there's no blemish but the mind; none can be called deformed but the unkind". That is all that the African Decade invites you to reflect upon, to think about and to act on.

The writer has a physical disability and can be reached online: phitalisw@amrefke.org

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