PHOTO: Amos Emery Jessie, CEO of Kwageh Enterprise School of Information
By J. Peter S. Dennis, dennisrealone@gmail.com
GBARNGA, Liberia- The upcoming 2023 Legislative elections in Liberia’s central Bong County is going to see at least one determined person with disability in that political contest.
A visually impaired man in Bong County says he is opened to representing his people.
Mr. Amos Emery Jessie, a resident of Suakoko District and the Chief Executive Officer of Kwageh Enterprise School of Information Technology and printing press, has declared that he intends to join the race for representative.
His educational institution was established in 2018 to help impart computer knowledge to people residing in this central Liberian county.
He is a graduate of the Cuttington University, with a Bachelor’s degree in Public Administration with emphasis in Education.
Mr. Jessie has also has earned several professional certificates.
According to him, he is opened for consultations regarding his bid for this political seat in Suakoko district.
Amos Jessie displays one of his many certificates
This prominent visually impaired citizen of this area believes he’s qualified and capable to represent his people at this leve.
“If the people want me to represent them in 2023 or beyond, I’m prepared,” he said.
This young Liberian professional also believes that, “disability is not inability, thus a representation at the House of Representatives in Liberia would be a new day for people living with disabilities in Liberia.”
District politics background
The incumbent Representative of the district, Edward W. Karfiah has declined about contesting for the representative seat, but is rather eying senatorial seat in 2023, thus making the district politically vacant.
Mr. Jessie however, feels that people living with disabilities quest in both national and local decision making processes has been overlooked over the years in Liberia.
“I am a lecturer; I teach the Liberian Society. At the grade school, I teach Civics. I know and understand the parliamentary procedures at the Liberian Legislature. It will not be difficult for me,” Mr. Jessie told this Internews PwD Reporting Fellow in a live radio interview in Gbarnga, Bong County recently.
“If the people decide for me to represent them, I will. I am qualified and capable,” he asserted.
The productive PwD in rural Liberia said he has provided guidance for some people who have had doubts about governance, although he declined to name them.
Bong has no person with disability in the Legislature
He expressed the hope that people living with disabilities will eventually be represented in the National Legislature from Bong County, in order for their concerns to be addressed.
Currently, there is not a single representation at the Liberian Legislature for people living with disabilities. There is not even a law that exclusively preserves a seat for them in Liberia.
Mr. Jessie has disclosed that in recent times, he has been receiving calls to contest in 2023, but he had downplayed them in the past, with an aim of doing further consultations.
“Other people have been coming to me with that call, but I have always told them let’s pray about it. There are other high profile and influential people in the district that we are still consulting. I am not afraid of anything,” the visually impaired educator has said.
“My dream is to empower and advocate for people. Why will I be afraid if I am qualified,” he disclosed.
He boasted of having a cordial relationship with the current outgoing district representative Karfiah, who had declared his intention to contest as senator of Bong Cunty in 2023), but Mr. Jessie was was quick to point out that even if the incumbent contested, he still has the edge to win the seat in 2023.
“The current representative and I are good friends; we communicate regularly. But I don’t know whether he will support me or not; but I will wait to see,” Emery Jessie expressed.
Jessie’s potential platform
According to him, empowerment, unity, inclusion in leadership, setting up a council that will scrutinize and monitor development in the district, will be top tools.
Mr. Jessie’s intention to join the political race in 2023 would give inspiration to many people living with disabilities in Bong County and beyond.
According to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), the right to be a candidate for persons with disabilities in Africa continues to be a mirage. Like the right to vote, the right to stand election continues to be linked to the legal capacity.
Essentially people suffering from intellectual and psychosocial disability are denied both the right to vote and stand as a candidate. In most Africa countries person with disabilities are not allowed to stand for elections. For instance in Uganda a person of unsound mind cannot run for elections. Article 133 of the Zambian Constitution also provides that a person of unsound mind cannot stand for election for Member of Parliament. The legal framework in Central African Republic has similar provision to Uganda and Zambia except the fact that all those who are allowed to stand elections but committed to psychiatric institutions will not be allowed. Similar discriminatory provisions are evident in the laws of Namibia and Togo.
These discriminatory and outdated provisions towards persons with disabilities are inconsistent with the obligations that arise from CRPD. Importantly article 29 of the CRPD does not allow any form of limitation toward people with disabilities accessing the right to be elected. Therefore such restrictions not only violate the provision of article 29, but also articles 2 and 12 of CRPD. As of May 2015, no African state has been able to completely lift the restriction for the right to be elected. However, in the United Kingdom there are no restrictions on the right of persons with disabilities to be elected.
According to UN statistics, there are currently over 600 million persons with disabilities throughout the world of whom 400 million live in developing countries and 80 million in Africa. A World Health Organization source maintains that about forty percent of Africa’s population consists of people with disabilities, including 10-15 percent of school-age children.
This percentage would translate into about 300 million people with disabilities in Africa.
Causes of disability
Disability is caused by many factors, including malnutrition and disease, environmental hazards, traffic and industrial accidents, and civil conflict and war, and the number of people with disabilities continues to increase.
A vast majority of Africans with disabilities are usually excluded from schools and opportunities for work, virtually guaranteeing that they live as the poorest of the poor.
School enrollment for the disabled is estimated at no more than 5-10 percent and as many as 70-80 percent of working age people with disabilities are unemployed. The social stigma associated with disability results in marginalization and isolation, often leading to begging as the sole means of survival. Publication of this article was made possible with support from Internews Inclusive Media project