The minister explained that in The Gambia, there are organisations working with disabilities, and have programmes to implement. “With the availability of the fund, we are able to engage them, and they have come up with work plans, and we are supporting them to implement their work plans at their levels.”
“We are looking forward to increasing the fund. In that case, I would like to request support, so that the D4 million that we allocate every year is increased to D10 million for people with disabilities. I believe that will go a long way in supporting them to implement their activities,” she requested.
“So I want to say that we need your support. Come next year, we will be requesting for D10 million, and please give us the support so that we can provide assistance.”
“We engage organisations and they submit their work plans. We check the work plans and invite them to explain the need and importance of the work plans,” she explained in response to a question about what measure they have put in place to work with such organisations.
“Once that is done, and we agree on the work plans, then we engage the minister of Finance to put forward our request to support these organisations,” she explained.
She highlighted that “last year and this year, only D4 million was approved, and that wasn't adequate to address the needs of the organizations of people with disabilities. This is the reason why I'm saying that come next year, when we ask for more money, please be on our side and give us support, so that we can also support the organizations.”
“We don't just come up with a figure. We engage them before it's time for budget consultations. And they submit their work plans; we discuss with them and make sure that these are authentic work plans, which will go a long way in addressing their concerns when implemented.”
She said with the D4 million allocation, the ministry has carried out the rehabilitation work at the National Rehabilitation Centre in Banjul and provided state-of-the-art equipment to provide services to people with disabilities.
“The ministry has also provided rehabilitation services to 8,500 individuals on orthopedic and medical health services such as wheelchair support and repairing and other assertive devices such as crutches for 2,200 persons with disabilities.
“Relatively, 5,300 clients have benefited from these services. We have supported the Government Federation of the Disabled and the Disability Advisory Council and the United States Organization of Persons with Disabilities with the Federation to enhance the implementation of their programmes and activities.”
These among other activities were implemented, she clarified.
