Malawi Union of the Blind (MUB) has expressed a concern with the delay by the Malawi government to ratify and domesticate the African Disability Protocol.

MUB Executive Director, Ezekiel Kumwenda expressed the concern in a statement issued on Monday, February 13, 2023.

The protocol was adopted by the thirtieth ordinary session of the assembly, held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on 29 January 2018.

But according to Kumwenda, the government only signed the protocol in April 2022 but has not ratified or domesticated it.

“The government promised that the President would ratify the protocol once he returned from the USA last year but this has never happened up to now, the same promise was made during the National Disability Day.

“By not ratifying and domesticating the protocol the government is putting at risk lives of persons with disabilities in so many ways.

The government is accelerating the infringement of rights of persons with disabilities yet is its duty and responsibility to protect persons with disabilities,” said Kumwenda in a statement

MUB has since called upon the government to speed up the process of ratifying and domesticating the protocol saying the protocol has many benefits to persons with disabilities in Malawi.

The protocol among other things highlights that States Parties shall take appropriate and effective measures, including policy, legislative, administrative, institutional and budgetary steps, to ensure, respect, promote, protect and fulfill the rights and dignity of persons with disabilities, without discrimination on the basis of disability.

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