For a long time, governance has been about how people make decisions and how those decisions affect them as a society. Abraham Lincoln said democracy is about governance of the people, by the people and for the people.
Whereas there's the model of democracy as per what is ideal, reality beckons that this has not been achieved more so in developed countries where a myriad of factors and interests come into play. For starters, democracy in Kenya and Africa in general was trivialised into a game of numbers, numbers that are not available when it comes to persons with disabilities.
This is because there are no clear mechanisms to keep track of the various types of disabilities and that's a source of division in the disability world which leads to less numbers, which are important for self representation in positions of leadership and governance.
The end result is that persons with disabilities are left to play second fiddle in matters politics and governance meaning they have to depend on goodwill to have a voice at the decision making table. This is where nomination of persons with disabilities comes in.
Luckily, unlike in the past where representation of persons with disabilities was an act of tokenism, disability representation is in law and cannot be taken away from them. The challenge remains in the the person to champion the cause of persons with disabilities in an electoral unit eg, county Constituency or at the various levels of the national government.
As it is, disability representation is largely appointive and is mostly not as per the wishes of persons with disabilities themselves. To change this, there needs to be a change in the way self representation of persons with disabilities is done.
To begin with, there is devolution where representative power has been given to the masses by way of County Governments. The Political Parties disability leagues should also be devolved, and give independence to the disability league to choose their representatives themselves. Those chosen would then be nominated to the County Assembly, and if the disability league in a county feels their nominee has under performed, they can recall the person via a vote of no confidence.
Given that Political Parties are national in nature, it would be better if the disability leagues of all counties elected in the person be nominated in the Senate and the National Assembly so that the person nominated is answerable to the persons that fronted him or her. This means that in the long run, political party disability leagues will have a meaning, a purpose and some form of authority.
Should there be a coalition disability league, then there would be sufficient numbers to push for disability issues across National and county level governments and have a more vibrant participation of persons with disabilities in politics and leadership.
Persons with disabilities are capable of representing themselves without undue influence. Let's do it.