By CHUSA SICHONE
SOME persons with disabilities representing their colleagues in other provinces have been spending nights in the luggage compartment of broken down buses at the Zambia Association for Persons with Disabilities (ZAPD) garage for close to 11 months.

. Lungu

The 15 from Southern, Copperbelt and North-Western provinces, among others, came to push for allowances from ZAPD and have failed to travel back to their homes as they have no money hence appealing to President Edgar Lungu to come to their aid.
The irate persons comprising Violet Mwape, Catherine Hatimbula, Tyson Kiswaka and Amos Mwanza stormed the Sunday Times offices in Lusaka during the week to air their grievances. They are squatting in the garage situated in Emmasdale.
They recently received K1,000 apiece from ZAPD which they sent to their families but they are demanding more money to enable them travel back to their homes and the remainder to be used to travel back to Lusaka for a court case next year involving some ZAPD officials.
They have since formed a pressure group to push for adequate funds that ZAPD raises from renting out its properties and ensure that the organisation had more physically challenged persons as office bearers than was the case currently.
The affected persons warned that they would pull down the ZAPD poster and replace it with the one reflecting that the organisation was being run by able-bodied persons if ZAPD did not employ more persons with disabilities.
“We are appealing to the President to look into our plight. We are suffering. We have had several meetings with the Minister of Community Development and the Permanent Secretary but to no avail.
“That’s why we are appealing to the President to empower us through jobs and giving us allowances,” Mr Kiswaka said.
Ms Mwape said several attempts to meet President Lungu had failed as they were being sent away by the security personnel.
Ms Mwape said owing to the hardships she and her colleagues were facing, they have resorted to begging on the streets to raise money for food.
They were hopeful that President Lungu, being a listening leader, would meet them and respond to their plight.