7 minute read
Why is it hard to succeed as a female politician with a disability?
In this interview extract, the Commonwealth Parliamentarians with Disabilities Chairperson spoke to the BBC Africa Daily Podcast about the challenges facing MPs with disabilities.
Interviewer: Alan Kasujja
Another woman used to breaking barriers is Ugandan Member of Parliament, Laura Kanushu Opori. She sits in Parliament under a quota system. In Uganda, there are five seats reserved for disabled people. She's also the Chairperson of the group, Commonwealth Parliamentarians with Disabilities, or CPwD. She told me more about the challenges people with disabilities face when they go into politics.
Hon. Laura Kanushu, MP
Parliaments across the Commonwealth, first of all, have not embraced fully the representation of people with disabilities. Still, also some Parliaments have not considered the access needs of Members of Parliament with disabilities. But there are also Parliaments across the Commonwealth that actually have no Members of Parliament with disabilities. To bring this understanding to all Parliaments across the Commonwealth is quite a challenging task, but we're doing what we can.
Interviewer: Alan Kasujja
What is it like as a woman with disabilities taking on leadership? Are people sensitive to your needs? As a woman, a politician with disabilities?
Hon. Laura Kanushu, MP
There are quite many challenges. There are quite many challenges, and I can tell you about that. In my country, Uganda, if there was no specific quota that allowed me to become a Member of Parliament representing people with disabilities. Perhaps I couldn't have been able to stand in the mainstream despite my capacities, despite my education, but because of the attitudes, because of the perspectives that the voters have towards me. Perhaps I wouldn’t be in Parliament. The chance I have to be in Parliament is because there's a specific slot for five Members who must be people with disabilities, and also the finances are because elections in the country can be very expensive and not very many women with disabilities can actually have access to those finances.
Interviewer: Alan Kasujja
Please walk me through the process of you taking on one of the five slots that's been allocated to people living with disabilities in Uganda. What's that process like?
Hon. Laura Kanushu, MP
So the process is very, very hectic because unlike my colleagues who campaign in a smaller constituency, I have to campaign throughout the country. My campaign is actually like a presidential campaign, I don't have a constituency that is small, like the women, the other women or the other constituency MPs. I have to go across the country, and I am elected through an Electoral College from every district of Uganda. So, my campaign is actually like a presidential campaign.
Interviewer: Alan Kasujja
You know, there's this, the fact that you're a woman, but also the fact that you're disabled. I wonder what that makes the politics like, because a lot of people will argue that politics by its nature is just toxic.
Hon. Laura Kanushu, MP
Yes, it makes it very, very toxic. I know that even when you have been elected as a Member of Parliament, you in that Parliament as a national leader, but it's unfortunate that some Members will still look at you as a person who is only there to talk about disability. So every time you want to speak about a different issue, people still want to push you into their disability corner and say this is not your space. You can't speak about another issue, if you are not speaking about disability, then you better keep quiet. So it's a very toxic environment, but it's also good for people to accept and know that, you know, despite your disabilities, you can actually do so much. You can have other positions. You can lead a Committee of Parliament.
Those are things we're still grappling with and in this current Parliament, none of us is a Chair of any Committee, not because we don't have the capacities. We don't know why that is the case. Unlike in the 10th Parliament, we had about three Members of Parliament with disabilities being Chairs of Committees. So again, I think it goes back to attitude and to think that we can't perform beyond what we are there for as representatives of people with disabilities.
Interviewer: Alan Kasujja
There are so many issues facing people with disabilities. Do those who say that you should focus on those issues have a point? Isn't it that you are elected to concentrate on issues faced by persons with disabilities, not to prove that you can do everything else?
Hon. Laura Kanushu, MP
No, I don't think so. So let me give you an example. If Parliament is talking about women generally, I don’t always have to say women with disabilities because there are things that are common about a woman, disabled or non-disabled, and there are things that affect youth. There are matters that affect our youth with disability differently, but we're talking about youth.
Interviewer: Alan Kasujja
I agree with you, but if it's a challenge facing youth. It is more likely to impact on youth with disabilities more, and that is where your focus should be on speaking for those who need your voice more, which is young people with disabilities?
Hon. Laura Kanushu, MP
Not necessarily. I'll give you an example. If a law is being passed in Uganda that I do not agree with or I agree with and it has nothing to do with disability, as a Member of Parliament, I have no right to speak about any issue that comes on the floor. And I know, yes that my constituency is disability and that's why all the women MPs are not really talking about women's issues. They're talking about all the other issues that affect the country. So, for you to say, even when we are talking about, you know, things that are not necessarily about for disability that should keep quiet is to deny me the fact that I am a Member of Parliament and I discuss national issues.
Interviewer: Alan Kasujja
I wonder what your message is to able-bodied voters. They might not want to vote for you and others with disabilities because they think that you'll only be interested in disability rights, which is clearly not the case from what you've told me. They might also think that someone with a disability who is blind or deaf won't be able to manage the work of Parliament with all the chaos, the debate and the madness that surrounds politics. I wonder what, what do you say to those people?
Hon. Laura Kanushu, MP
Representation in Parliament is about people's capacities, and capacity has nothing to do with my blindness, my deafness, or my physical disability. And again, it's a question of attitude that, you know, attitude alone can change in a day. See me as a person first and then see the disability. That would be more important than seeing my disability before you see the person. So, what do you consider when you're choosing a Member of Parliament? Do you want a Member of Parliament who is well-educated? Do you want a Member of Parliament who can articulate your issues? Do you want a Member of Parliament who is intentional about the rights of people?
Those are the things you should look at. If you focus your eyes on my disability, you will definitely never vote for me. You will never think I can do anything, but also you need to look at my experience. What have I done, even as a woman with disability. What other work have I done? Rather than focus on the things I can't do, and I keep telling people, there's nothing I can't do. It's the environment that disables me. For me, I don't consider myself as a person who can't do anything. Unless the environment puts me in a position where I can't do those things.
Interviewer: Alan Kasujja
Can you be President?
Hon. Laura Kanushu, MP
Of course I can. Of course I can be President. Why not?
