People with disability to have representatives in LLGs

People with disability in Morobe will now have a representative in each of the 33 local level government assemblies.
The idea was the initiative of the disabled people themselves through the Morobe disabled agency (MDA) based in Lae.
MDA chairman, Bernard Hipom, a paraplegic, was the main initiator of the idea which later attracted the provincial minister of the disabled people and Governor  Luther Wenge, who gave his support and launched the initiative on Tuesday.
Hipom said the initiative was established to unite all disabled people in the province and also to allow them to have a say in their affairs and also for the community as a whole, in their respective council areas.
A small gathering was held at the agency centre at Dowsett housing area, Papuan compound, on Tuesday where some of the disabled representatives received their certificates and identification cards.
Wenge had committed K100,000 for an inventory system to be set and surveys made to identify every disabled person in the province so that proper recordscould be kept.
He told the disabled people that no disabled person could say that he or she was such and could not do anything.
The governor also said that he would push in parliament for legislations to be passed whereby all disabled people around the country be paid some kind of disabled pensions to sustain themselves throughout disabled lives.