Mr Francis Asenso-Boakye, the Minister of Works and Housing, said the rights of PWDs under the Persons With Disability Act, 2006 (Act 715), include access to public places and public services.
He noted that Article 6 of Act 715 mandates the owner or occupier of a place to which the public has access to provide appropriate facilities that make the place accessible to and available for use by a PWD.
The Minister stated this on the floor of Parliament in his response to questions by Madam Abla Dzifa Gomashie, National Democratic Congress (NDC) Member of Parliament (MP) for Ketu South.
The MP asked the Minister what steps the Ministry was taking to ensure that Act 715 and Article 9 of the Convention on the Rights of Perdons With Disabilities were complied with in the existing Ghana Accessibility Standard.
Article 9 of the Convention on Rights of Persons With Disabilities (CRPD) stipulates that “to enable persons with disabilities to live independently and participate fully in all aspects of life, State Parties shall take appropriate measures to ensure persons with disabilities access, on an equal basis with others, to physical environment, to transportation, to information and communications, including information and communications technologies and systems, and to other facilities and services open or provided to the public, both in urban and in rural areas.
Mr Asenso-Boakye in his response said taking into cognizance of Article 9 – Accessibility, of the Convention on the Rights of Persons With Disabilities (CRPD), the L.I. 2465 had made provision for PWDs to access facilities and services open or provided to the public.
He said in 2015, the Ministry developed a structured housing policy, aimed at addressing housing challenges in the country using well-articulated guiding principles.
“The Policy as part of these principles captured inclusively and compels practitioners to have inclusiveness in the design, implementation, management, monitoring, evaluation and scaling up of existing buildings, Mr Asenso-Boakye said.
“In doing so, the Policy require the State to give recognition to interest, irrespective of income, ethnicity, gender and social standing. Accordingly, all housing designs are required to adequately address the needs of the disabled and the aged.”
The Minister said that in ensuring the effective implementation of the above Policy, the Ministry had facilitated the promulgation of a Regulatory Instrument, the Building Regulations, 2022 with Legislative Instrument (LI) 2465, which had incorporated sound standards of the Ghana Building Code.
Madam Gomashie in another major question asked the Minister what specific efforts were being made to ensure that newly constructed public spaces are accessible to persons with disability.
Mr Asenso-Boakye in his response said the Ghana Accessibility Standard had been incorporated into the recently passed Building Regulations, 2022 (LI 2465) for the approving authorities.
He said accordingly, substantial responsibility had been given to the MMDAS to ensure permit applications for new building were scrutinized to ensure compliance with the laws on accessibility to public buildings which were stipulated in the Persons With Disabilities Act, 2006 – Act 715.
The Minister said it considered guidelines for wheelchair transfer and movement, design guidelines for older persons, for children with disabilities and for persons with visual impairment.
Mr Asenso-Boakye said Section 60 of the Persons With Disability Act, 2006 entreats the owner of occupier of an existing building to which the public had access, to within 10 years of commencement of this Act (transitional period), make that building accessible to and available for use by a person with disability.
He reiterated that many owners and occupiers of public buildings had since 2016, made efforts, especially with the provisions of lifts, access ramps and hand rail to make their properties disability friendly.
“This can be seen with some buildings in the Ministries enclaves (in Accra), such as the Ministry of Works and Housing, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection, Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations, the Accra International Conference Centre and the National Theatre,” the Minister stated.