Sierra Leone’s Minister of Social Welfare, Baindu Dassama Kamara, has announced plans to collect the data on persons with disabilities.
“The data collected will help the ministry plan to address the challenges of persons with disabilities in Sierra Leone.” said Kamara.
The minister addressed persons with disabilities in Kenema at the National Commission for Persons with Disability office in the district., the Politico Online reported.
“We have approached statistics Sierra Leone to do a survey nationwide on persons with disabilities so that the ministry will get an accurate database on them. Our aim as a government is to get persons with disabilities off the street and place them in training centers to acquire skills that will enable them to earn income,” she said.
“We can’t plan for people when there is no total figure for those people,” she added.
The Minister’s engagement with the persons with disabilities also brought out a number of other expressed concerns. Regional Coordinator for the Disability Commission, Michael Gborie, cited lack of adequate staff, mobility to reach other districts in the region, inadequate moveable devices for people in wheelchair and crunches as just some of the problems they face.
