People Living with Disabilities. [Photo/The Star]
Nominated Member of Parliament David ole Sankok (Jubilee Party) is set to propose the introduction of a new law geared towards making roads more user-friendly to persons living with disabilities.
Sankok said during the commemoration of the International Day of Disabled Persons at the Moi Avenue Primary School in Nairobi that the law will ensure all roads have clear pavements to minimise the risk of disabled persons being hit by moving cars.“We need to have pavements that can be used by people in wheelchairs but more importantly we need to find a way of making sure that our traffic signs are not just based on lights and physical marks; we need to have some form of sound too for people who are visually impaired,” Sankok remarked on Sunday.He was however quick to note that significant progress has been made in creating an inclusive society where the physically disabled are respected acknowledging the representation of the disabled in legislative bodies – both national and county based.
Sankok also enumerated the access to procurement opportunities by disabled persons, through which the government has provided opportunities for people living with disabilities to secure tenders for supply of goods and services to government agencies.
“Importation of duty-free vehicles, as well as tax exemptions area among things that have empowered the, disable in this country,” he said.
There was, however, need to enforce existing regulations including the law requiring buildings to have ramps through which disabled persons can access them said Sankok.