The Prime Minister, Robinah Nabbanja has said government is committed to financing the National Special Disability Grants Programme to ensure countrywide coverage.

The grant is aimed at improving livelihood of People with Disabilities (PWDs) where Shs5 million is provided to enterprises run by small groups of PWDs.

Nabbanja said this while responding to a question raised by Kyotera District Woman MP, Hon. Fortunate Nantongo during the plenary sitting on Thursday, 05 October 2023. The sitting was chaired by Deputy Speaker, Thomas Tayebwa.

Nabbanja said there is political will to continuously finance the programme citing the consistent increase in the budgetary allocations over the past five years.“The programme started with a budget of Shs2.1 billion in the 2019/2020 financial year, which was enhanced to Shs5 billion in 2020/2021, then to Shs9 billion in 2021/2022. The fund is now at Shs16.6 billion,” Nabbanja said.

She added that 22,606 enterprises run by PWDS across all local governments have benefited from the grant since 2019 and that Shs13 billion targeting 2,653 enterprises will be released in the next financial year.

She cited laws and regulations enabling PWDs including the Buildings Control Act of 2013, Building Control Regulations of 2020 for PWDs, saying what is lacking is enforcement.  

Nantongo inquired whether all sub-counties are now covered with the grant and the government plan to ensure buildings are friendly to PWDs.