The First Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly of Zambia, Hon. Ms Malungo A. Chisangano, MP, joined Members of Parliament at a Breakfast Meeting between parliamentarians and the Zambia Federation of Disability Organisations (ZFOD) on Monday 10th October, 2022, at Mulungushi Conference Centre, Lusaka.

Honourable Chisangano noted that people living with disabilaities, in Zambia, continued to face numerous challenges in various spheres of their lives, such as low participation in political and governance activities; lack of suitable infrastructure; inadequate educational facilities; inadequate mainstreaming of disability in the overall legislative framework; and continued stigmatisation from some sections of society.

However, it is agreeable to make note of the Governments continued efforts to place the welfare of people living with disabilities, high on its agenda.

First Deputy Speaker Chisangano urged all Members of Parliament, to utilise every opportunity, to effectively engage with colleagues living with disabilities, to identify progressive methods in which their plight can be attended to, especially through various established parliamentary mechanisms and thanked ZFOD for the interaction that offered an opportunity for people leaving with disabilities to effectively engage parliamentarians, who are their representatives in the National Assembly, on various issues affecting them.

Ms Brenda Nyirenda, Member of Parliament for Lundazi Constituency called for the urgent need to refurbish and build facilities that accommodated all persons living with disabilities especially in rural areas where roads are in bad conditions causing strain on a person using wheelchairs or clutches. 

In calling for concerted efforts among all stakeholders in the country, to ensure that the welfare of people living with disabilities, be uplifted, the First Deputy Speaker also informed the participants of a few interventions that Parliament had undertaken since the First Republic such as the people of Zambia electing parliamentarians with some form of physical impairment which was designed to promote their active participation in the governance and national development.

The First Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly of Zambia, Hon. Ms Malungo A. Chisangano, MP, was part of the Members of Parliament who attended a meeting under the theme “supporting the actualisation of meaningful participation of persons with Disabilities in governance and national development.” on Monday 10th October, 2022, at Mulungushi Conference Centre, Lusaka