Persons with disabilities demand a 5 percent allocation in 2023-24 Budget

Persons living with disabilities are requesting to be allocated five percent of funding in the 2023/24 national budget.

This was revealed by Stephen Dhieu Kuach the Director for persons with disabilities in the office of the Vice President for Gender and Youth Cluster in Juba on Wednesday.

“We suggest having 5 percent in the annual budget to be allocated to programs of persons with disabilities,” Dhieu said at a press conference

He said the ministries should allocate some percentages from their budget to cater to the welfare of persons with disabilities.

Dhieu said the education sector should allocate some funds to promote inclusive education which benefits persons with disabilities.

“If the ministry of education has an annual budget, they should make sure that they have certain percentages within their national budget to cater for access to inclusive education or inclusive environment such as schools and equipment that people with disability use in various levels of education,” he said.

Dhieu also suggested that the Ministry of Gender should support girls, women, youth, and elderly persons with disabilities to create their own jobs.

Edmund Yakani, Executive Director for Community Empowerment for Progress Organization (CEPO) also supported inclusion of persons with disabilities in next year’s budget.

“If our government from next year is working for the national budget for the year 2023-2024 then that budget has to be inclusive. It means each ministry must take part of their budget to respond to concerns of persons with disabilities,” Yakani said.