Martin Endjala
Member of Parliament and Deputy Minister of Disability Affairs, Alexia Manombe-Ncube, has called on the treasury to start considering monthly incentives for persons who take care of people living with disability.
The MP said this in the National Assembly while contributing to the national budget. She pointed out a concern she observed and wants to see urgent interventions to address the issue with caregivers.
She said often a parent with a child with severe disabilities, such as cerebral palsy cannot leave the child alone to go and work outside the house.
“Most of these children and adults need full-time assistants, someone should be readily available to provide their needs, such as feeding them, changing nappies and turning them in bed to avoid pressure in sores,” said MP.
She added that many other groups of people with disabilities, such as persons in wheelchairs, persons with visual impairment and deaf people need personal assistants of their choice. Hence, she requested the treasury to look into the situation and approve monthly incentives.
She said such consideration will be in line with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), ratified by Namibia. She added that Article 2 in the UNCRPD convention explains the concept of reasonable accommodation.
Manombe-Ncube emphasised that it is always heartwarming to see the commitment to provide support to the most vulnerable members of society and that the hope of the late President Hage Geingob was honoured through the increase of N$200 in the grants for pensioners and persons living with disabilities, which she believes will make a difference in the lives of individuals
She commended the increase of 23.2 percent allocation to the Ministry of Gender Equality, Poverty Eradication and Social Welfare.
Stating that the programs of Disability Affairs such as the Individual Support Program, will benefit from this, to allow them to distribute among others, nappies, ointment for pressure sores, milk formula for people who have difficulties swallowing solid food, portable showers and portable toilets to people who cannot live without these necessities.
Additionally, she stated that students with disabilities will also benefit from this increment to pay for their studies at institutions of higher learning.
Another milestone she highlighted is the increase to the Ministry of Health and Social Services to the tune of N$10.9 billion and the sum of N$34.3 billion over the Mid-Term Expenditure Framework.
She believes these funds are sufficient to provide in the continuous plea for assistive devices and prostheses.
The MP maintains that the provision of these will among others enable people with disabilities to move independently and take care of themselves, as well as meaningfully contribute to socio-economic development.
