Aspirant Calls For Greater Awareness And Understanding Of The PWDs.

A Thika Township Ward 2017 aspirant has called on the government and the society to give greater emphasis on the challenges facing people living with disabilities (PWDs) and their families by addressing the barriers they face in their everyday lives and understanding their priorities right.

Nominated M.C.A Florence Njeri Ngeru (Flozie) said issues related to disability were not merely the fact that the person was suffering from certain restraints in physical, mental or social aspects but they went beyond this point in concern about the livelihood of the persons affected.

Speaking at Eden Centre in Kiandutu, Thika Sub-County while sharing New Year’s gifts to over 50 PWDs and their families, Flozie emphasised that the importance to understand the nature of disabilities and their consequences as this would help in assisting them live a normal domestic life.

The leader blamed the predicaments these group of people squarely on the current leadership which she said had failed to seek solutions that could solve them once and for all. She reckoned that there was a disconnect between the people and the leaders at the helm as those who were supposed to be the link failed to play their role or rather were never in touch with the reality on the ground.

She argued that this was just part of the reason that she had decided to vie for the seat of Thika Township Ward in the coming General Elections.

“Without the proper care and help, it is next to impossible to help these people and it is essential to help them not only because they are part of our community but also because they are part of the humanity. What I have witnessed here is a sad picture of a people left to fate with no one really addressing their plight. This is so unfortunate and very unacceptable considering the fact that we have leaders assigned with the duty to oversee any form of intervention,” said the MCA in tears.

Flozie said that her leadership would prioritise the disadvantaged people who she said were neglected and forgotten by the current representatives.

“These leaders have no business with the disabled and the aged as they are regarded as a burden and cannot be useful when it came to executing their brand of politics. There are so many kitties in both the national and the county governments that money can be derived to assist you start a business. As leader, one is also privileged to access the top leadership to source for assistance for their people. If those you elected cannot do that, then it simply mean that they assumed leadership to nurse their selfish interests,” she said.

She thanked Kiambu governor William Kabogo for donating the foodstuff and promised them that she would personally ask him to visit them so that they could articulate their challenges to him and work out solutions to some of their challenges.

On behalf of the group, Centre Director Eunice Muringi Mwangi thanked the MCA and the governor for their gesture noting that were it not for them, majority of those people would have ushered in the New Year with nothing to eat. She noted that the MCA’s visit was the first for any leader even though they had tried reaching others in vain.

“No leader has ever laid foot on this ground before even after we have made all efforts to invite them. Some of our problems are not financial but the lack of someone to link us with the relevant authorities. We can categorically say that our elected leaders have totally neglected us and given our pleas a wide berth,” said Ms. Mwangi.