The Coalition of Unemployed Graduates with Disabilities is set to picket at the Jubilee House today, August 19, to demand greater access to employment opportunities within the public sector.

The group says the action is in response to what it considers the government’s failure to adequately implement legal provisions requiring the inclusion of persons with disabilities in public-sector employment.

It argues that recent recruitment exercises have not sufficiently reflected the need for greater representation of qualified persons with disabilities.

The Coalition says it submitted a verified list of 200 qualified graduates with disabilities to the Ghana Education Service (GES) for consideration during its recent recruitment exercise, which involved about 7,000 people.

However, it says none of the graduates on its list was selected.

It contends that the development highlights gaps in the implementation of policies and laws intended to promote equal employment opportunities for persons with disabilities.

The group is therefore demanding concrete measures from government to ensure that qualified graduates are recruited into public institutions.

Speaking to Citi FM, Coalition Convenor Gilbert Boateng Agyare said the group was particularly seeking financial clearance from the Ministry of Finance to facilitate the recruitment and deployment of its members to government institutions.

“We want the Finance Ministry to issue 400 to 500 financial clearances to help deploy our people to the various government institutions. Recently, GES did a recruitment of about 7,000 people, and we submitted about 200 names to GES and nothing happened, and so we think that is repugnant,” he said.

He added that the decision to take the protest to the Jubilee House was intended to draw the President’s attention to the difficulties confronting unemployed graduates with disabilities.

“So why can’t we go to the Jubilee House to let the president know the realities faced by persons with disabilities?. We think that if these financial clarifications are given, definitely our people are going to be catered for.”