The Coalition of Unemployed Graduates with Disabilities has declined to present a petition to Presidential Staffer Dr. Samuel Ayeh, insisting that the document should be received by a higher-ranking government official.
The development occurred during a peaceful picketing exercise by the coalition at Jubilee House in Accra to protest what it described as the government’s failure to implement legal requirements and affirmative action measures aimed at increasing the recruitment of Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) into public institutions.
Dr. Ayeh was at the event representing President John Dramani Mahama and had offered to receive the group’s petition on behalf of the President.
The coalition, however, refused to hand over the document, maintaining that its concerns should be formally presented to a senior government authority.
Reacting to the decision, Dr. Ayeh said he respected the coalition’s position but stressed that he had been delegated to represent the President.
“If you think that the President has sent me to receive a petition on his behalf and, in your opinion, I’m a nobody, and because of that you will not give me your petition, well, that’s the position you can have and I respect that,” he said.
Dr. Ayeh explained that he serves as a senior government official at the Office of Employment and was at Jubilee House as the President’s representative.
“As I stand here, I’m also a senior member of government at the Office of Employment, and I’m standing instead of His Excellency the President,” he stated.
He said the coalition had the right to determine who it wanted to receive the petition and could wait until it found an official it considered appropriate.
“You can wait to a point in time where you think you’ve met the right person to deliver it. You have that opportunity,” he said.
Dr. Ayeh subsequently conveyed President Mahama’s goodwill to the protesters and expressed hope that an opportunity would arise for the coalition to formally present its concerns.
“Let me convey His Excellency the President’s best wishes to you for the opportunity incoming,” he added.
The picketing exercise was organised to draw attention to what the coalition described as the government’s failure to honour commitments and legal provisions concerning the inclusion of PWDs in public sector recruitment.
According to the coalition, the government has failed to meet the requirement to reserve at least five per cent of public sector employment opportunities for persons with disabilities.
The group cited the recent recruitment of about 7,000 teachers by the Ghana Education Service (GES), arguing that the five per cent threshold would have translated into approximately 350 positions for qualified PWDs.
The coalition said it had submitted a verified list of 200 qualified graduates with disabilities to the GES for consideration but claimed that none of the individuals on the list was selected.
The development, according to the group, has raised concerns about the implementation of affirmative action measures intended to improve employment opportunities for graduates with disabilities.
Led by its Convener, Gilbert Boateng Agyare, the coalition is also calling on the Ministry of Finance to provide between 400 and 500 financial clearances to facilitate the recruitment and deployment of qualified graduates with disabilities into various public sector institutions.
The group proposed that the beneficiaries be considered for opportunities within institutions including the Civil Service, Local Government Service and Ghana Revenue Authority.
The coalition argues that issuing the required financial clearances would provide a practical pathway for government to address the unemployment situation among qualified graduates with disabilities while strengthening the implementation of inclusion policies within the public sector.
The peaceful picketing at Jubilee House was therefore intended to draw the attention of the Presidency and relevant government agencies to the coalition’s concerns and press for concrete measures to improve employment opportunities for PWDs.
Although the petition was not handed over to Dr. Ayeh, the Presidential Staffer maintained that the coalition remained free to present its document at a later date when it identified an official it considered suitable to receive it.
By 1960news.com
