As the country heads to the August 9 general elections, great progress has been made by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission in the promotion of PWD’s inclusion in the electoral process.
The commission’s efforts are meant to actualize article 38 (4) of the Constitution- every citizen has the right to free, fair and regular elections based on universal suffrage and the free expression of the will of the electors.
Therefore, it has established disability inclusion committees that will act as the link between the Commission and the special groups in information dissemination.
Speaking at KICC Nairobi during a pre-national election conference with the media, IEBC Vice Chair Juliana Cherera revealed that they have also procured polling booths, which will be easily accessed by persons who are physically challenged.
The commission has further produced voter information material in Braille for persons with visual impairment.
For the deaf persons, the commission on Wednesday, trained sign language interpreters (SLI) on voter information and dissemination to deaf persons.
Further, the commission partnered with Signs media’s assist ALL app under the support of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in a bid to help expand the participation of deaf persons in the coming August 9th general elections.
During the launch, IEBC manager of partnerships Joyce Ekuam said the progress of the commission will ensure a transparent, efficient, and impartial election.