2 DPI members to be employed in a week’s time

Prime Minister Patrick Manning yesterday gave the undertaking to the Disabled People International/TT Chapter (DPI) that in one week’s time, Devon Garraway and Antonio Diaz would be employed. This was stated yesterday by George Daniel, President of the DPI following a meeting between the PM and members of the DPI held at the office of the Prime Minister. When asked which company would be employing the two, VP of the DPI Dr Emmanuel Hosein said that Manning did not say but instead expressed the concern that state enterprises, such as the National Flour Mills (NFM) and the Trinidad and Tobago Electricity Commission (TTEC), would not be pressured into taking anybody.

However, Daniel told Newsday: “We will take the Prime Minister at the word as he is the Prime Minister of his country.”  Dr Hosein, on the other hand, said that they would be prepared to accept the PM’s undertaking for employment wherever it can be found, apart from NFM and TTEC. And with that, following a prayer meeting at 5 pm yesterday, the tent outside the NFM compound came down after members of the DPI had been camping there for the last 116 days. Also coming out of the hour-long meeting was that the Prime Minister was in agreement with the DPI’s proposal for a Citizen Disability Act. Dr Hosein said, “We wanted legislation along the lines of the United States’ Disability Act which came into effect 10 years ago.” He added that Manning told them that his government would look into it.

Another factor that came to the fore was that a team from the Ministry of Finance will include members of the DPI in their budget planning. Hosein said: “We would be in consultation with a committee for the preparation of the budget. We wanted a standard committee but the PM wasn’t prepared to go that far.” The Prime Minister agreed for the government to make it mandatory that all state agencies, enterprises and government buildings be made accessible to all disabled people. Apart from the above, the DPI have been pursuing a whole range of other matters affecting them. Hosein said that in pursuit of those things, they have been fighting for housing, transportation, education, insurance, rehabilitation and an increase in subvention. Therefore he is now looking forward to the consultations with the team from the Finance Ministry. The DPI also forewarned the Prime Minister that they would be calling on the DPP to take the appropriate action, following the alleged beating incident by the police outside the NFM compound a couple months ago.