The Road Toll Initiative launched by the Ministry of Roads and Highways to provide 50 percent of road toll booth jobs to People with Disability (PWD) is yet to be achieved.
So far, about 80 out of the over 200 allocated places for the PWDs have been filled by people with disabilty.
Implementation of the next phase of the recruitment process is said to have been hindered by some government appointees, especially Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives who are filling the positions with non-PWDs.
The Ghana Federation for Disability Organizations (GFD) has described the interference by the appointees as “frustrating.”
Mr Yaw Ofori Debrah, President of the GFD, told ADR Daily in Accra that the implementation of the initiative seems to have stalled after the phase offered jobs for 80 persons with disabilities.
For her part, Madam Beatrice Akua Mahmood, the GFD Project Coordinator, said “the first phase of the initiative provided 74 jobs for PWDs in addition to six people who had been employed before the introduction of the initiative.”
“Of the first phase 250 applicants we provided, 172 were interviewed, and 74 were successful.
“For the second phase, 350 candidates were presented out of which 125 PWDs were shortlisted, but only 19 were employed,” she said.
According to her, the shortlisted PWDs have been ignored with non-disabled people were being employed to man the toll booths.
“The challenge currently facing the initiative is that DCEs and MCEs have decided to provide the jobs to people they are had selected.
“They have ignored our candidates and are employing their people who have not gone through the application and training process,” she added.
Madam Mahmood appealed to the Ministry of Roads and Highways to intervene to ensure the success of the programme for the benefit of PWDs.
Those employed in the first phase have been deployed across 32 stations including Dodowa, Pobiman, Dunkwa, Ankobra, Offinso, Adiembra, Bechem, Nasia, Yapei, Sawla tollbooths.
By Fred Gadese-Mensah/adrdaily.com
