Youth with disabilities. Photo credit: Gulu disabled persons union

The Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) has recommended that 3% of the youth livelihoods program fund be reserved for female and male youth with disabilities. The chairperson of the commission, Rita Matovu, disclosed this while presenting to the Speaker of parliament, Rebecca Kadaga, the annual report on the state of equal opportunities in Uganda 2014.

Matovu said that youth groups accessing youth livelihood fund do not want to accommodate youth with disabilities hence calling for special treatment. The report contains findings garnered by the commission through on site visits and public dialogues with communities in 23 of the 112 districts. She disclosed that the recent challenges affecting societies include the poor education services, widow inheritance of property after husband’s death and the need to fund social protection for Senior Citizens that they say is selective.

The Equal Opportunities Commission annual report to Parliament indicated that widows and children are the most section of people who are deprived of privileges to inherit the properties of the deceased.

The speaker appealed to the commission to lobby for remand homes for children to be constructed in areas especially in the north where they are now put together with adults in prisons like Kampiringisa after committing crimes. She also gave hope to the commission that parliament has taken note of the issue of the social protection grant that’s still in a few districts.

The Minister of the elderly and disabled under the Ministry of gender was asked to embrace all districts for equity. Currently the elderly programme is reaching 113,000 beneficiaries, each receiving 25,000 shs per month. To date 32 billion shs has been paid out to beneficiaries since September 2011