People with disabilities and minority groups have demanded fifteen percent increment of their representatives in both state and national parliaments.
A representative of disabled persons, Peter Kachinga, feels their group is not fully represented in the Parliament and other governmental institutions.
He says people with disabilities have benefited less in previous years from the vast natural resources in the country.
Kachinga calls on the government and companies involved in extraction of minerals to allocate some budget for disabled persons to assist them in capacity building.
‘We would like to urge the government and the companies involved in the mining industry to consider allocation of 5% of national budget for programs of persons with disability to address issues like education, health, vocational training and security’, say Peter Kachika.
Other complains disabled persons raised include lack of representation in the IGAD-led High Level Revitalization Forum in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Representative of disabled people and minority groups in the national dialogue steering committee, John Marik Makur acknowledges challenges facing persons with disabilities.
The constitution of the country has not addressed much about the rights of people with disabilities and minority groups.
He promises to follow up the concerns raised by the groups to the national dialogue steering committee.
‘Your rights as person with disability in the republic of South Sudan has a very big question mark because the national constitution have done little about persons with disability.’. John Marik says.
World Health Organization and Light of the World say an estimated 250,000 people with disabilities live in displacement camps in South Sudan.
Global estimates that 15 percent of the world’s population lives with disabilities, there may be more than 1.2 million people with disabilities in South Sudan.