Tamale (Northern Region) - Mr Issah Ketekewu, Deputy Northern Region Minister, said on Tuesday that the government's aim of ensuring fairness and equity in national development would come to naught if society continued to discriminate against the physically challenged.

"We must all begin to show increased sensitivity to the problems of the disabled by making provisions for them in our physical structures and planning," he said. Mr Ketekewu was speaking at the 11th "International Day for the Disabled" celebration in Tamale, which was on the theme: "Accessibility and persons with disabilities challenged".

The Day was marked by members of the Ghana Society of the Physically Disabled, Ghana National Association of the Deaf, Ghana Association of the Blind, parents and caress of children with disabilities and women with disabilities

Mr Ketekewu said the Northern Region Co-ordinating Council would continue to work closely with all stakeholders, especially NGOs operating in the region and district assemblies to pursue and adopt programmes that would enhance the interest of the disabled.

He said with the break down of the extended family system, the needs of the physically challenged had become the responsibility of society with government being the major stakeholder.

He said it was upon this recognition that the Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy was paying attention to supporting the disabled to overcome their problems. Mr Mumuni Seidu Justice, National Vice-President of the Ghana Society of the Physically Disabled, said since the inception of the poverty alleviation strategy, persons with disabilities within the Tamale Municipality had never benefited from the fund and urged the authorities to give due consideration to them.

He appealed to the Tamale Municipal Assembly to provide them with a permanent building for use as a resource centre. Mr Seth Alafa, a representative of Action on Disability and Development (ADD) Ghana, called on development agencies, the private sector and district assemblies to pool resources to integrate the disabled into the mainstream of society.