This is to ensure that the President prioritises disability issues for the full inclusion and effective participation of Persons with Disability (PWDs) in all sectors of the country.

 The Chairman of the National Disability Network Task Force, Mr Alexander Bankole Williams, at a press conference in Accra, said appointment of the special disability advisor would “help the government to prioritise issues of disability, advise the President appropriately and co-ordinate issues relating to disability.”

He urged the government to convert the National Council on Persons with Disability (NCPD) into an independent national authority on persons with disability due to the “cross-cutting nature of matters pertaining to disability, as well as the scope of work and functions of the said body.”

Mr Williams said the creation of a national authority on disability would also enhance “efficiency and effectiveness in prosecuting the National Disability Agenda as stipulated in varied pro-disability legislation and policies in the country.”

Since the establishment of the council in 2009, it has been struggling to attain the full complement of its staff, and is faced with a number of challenges, such as the unavailability of funds and the absence of autonomy.

“The council, per the current structure, is only a department under the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection,” he said, adding that the social protection responsibilities entrusted to the ministry were quite overwhelming and had, thus, “taken the council out of the equation. The council, as it stands now, is not adequately staffed and resourced and does not even have the requisite impetus to work,” Mr Williams said