Disabled fall by the wayside in Parliament

Maranyane Ngwanaamotho | Thursday October 30, 2014 16:45

Kitso Mokaila, Kenneth Matambo, Eric Molale and Unity Dow were chosen by majority as Specially Elected legislators in an election that quickly established the dichotomy between the ruling party and the opposition. Prior to the vote, Federation of the Disabled coordinator, Shirley Keoagile had said they were denied a representative in the previous Parliament “under the pretext that Letlhakeng-Lephephe MP Liakat Kablay, was their man”.

Kablay was returned to Parliament over the weekend with 5,265 votes against 4,996 of his closest rival. “Not even once have we heard him saying anything about the disabled. We are not happy with him and we ask to be given a chance in Parliament,” she said.

“During the political campaigns, not even one politician visited the disabled. This is not fair because we have to vote the same people to represent us in parliament. How can they represent us if they do not even know us or engage us.”

She said that a lot of issues concerning the disabled were lagging behind which is why the federation was campaigning for self-representation to advocate for these issues to be addressed. “We believe there is nothing for us without us. We have to be part of the solution to our challenges because we know them better. We cannot have people decide what is best for us without engaging us,” she said.

Keoagile added: “We want implementation. People have been saying they will do this and they will do that. We have had enough of that.  What we want now is implementation and self-representation,” she said.