PWD’s Petitions Sierra Leone Parliament, Others

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5th Global Road Safety Week 6th-12th May, 2019

By Sylvester Samba

As Sierra Leone Joined countries across the world to commemorate the 5th Global Road Safety Week on 6th-12th May 2019, Persons With Disability (PWD), particularly those residing in the capital city of Freetown, has written and formally handed over a petition to the following institutions. Sierra Leone Road Safety Authority (SLRSA), Sierra Leone Police, Sierra Leone Parliament, Ministry of Transport and Aviation, Ministry of Works and Public Assets and Freetown City Council.

Persons with disabilities include those who have long-term physical, intellectual and sensory impairments

Persons with disabilities include those who have long-term physical, intellectual and sensory impairments

The disable petitioners who came mainly from Milton Margai School for the Blind, Sierra Leone National Association of the Deaf, and Hard of Hearing (SLNAD) among other institutions called on the above stakeholders in those institutions they represent to make additional efforts on Road safety enforcement. They also pleaded with authorities to see the reason now to amend the current Road Traffic Acts and Regulations in order to guarantee their safety whenever they are accessing those roads.

Receiving the petition was the Speaker on behalf of Parliament. Retired Hon. Abass Bundu assured his willingness to communicate to the members of parliament their request for immediate action on road safety policies. Hon. Bundu promised, as speaker of the house, he will table policies to promote, protect, and ensure the full enjoyment of human rights by people with disabilities and ensure that they enjoy full equality under the law. The Speaker assured all persons with disabilities its highest priority is to pass into law policies to promote respect for their inherent dignity. He noted in as much they make available necessary laws on road safety, he called law enforcement agencies enforcement it fullest. He lamented that the country’s keeps continue to record high level of road accident due to the recklessness of drivers.

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The Executive Director of Sierra Leone Road Safety Authority, Mr. David Panda-Noah reaffirmed his institution’s commitment to promoting road safety in Sierra Leone and thus changes the road safety situation in the country. Receiving the Petition paper, David Panda-Noah said the petitions raised awareness and that the Authority is presently working with the Ministry of Transport and Aviation to seeing the House Parliament amending existing Road Traffic Acts and Regulations. The amendments, he said, would be done after thorough consultations with stakeholders and PWDs.

The other institutions adequately reaffirmed their commitment in promoting road safety particularly for Persons With Disability (PWD) in Sierra Leone. They assured that all the concerns raised in the petition would be looking into with the utmost seriousness and urgency.

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Theo Edwards

Theo Edwards has over twenty years of diverse Information Technology experience. He spent his days playing with all things IBMi, portal, mobile application, and enterprise business functional and architectural design.

Before joining IBM as Staff Software Engineer, Theo worked as a programmer analyst and application specialist for businesses hosting eCommerce suite on IBMi platform. He has been privileged to co-author numerous publications such as Technical Handbooks, White paper, Tutorials, Users Guides, and FAQs. Refer to manuals here. Theo also holds a degree in Computer Science, Business Administration and various certifications in information security and technologies. He considers himself a technophile since his engagement at Cable & Wireless then later known SLET.