AN opposition member of parliament has accused the Government of ignoring the rights of disabled people and refusing to help them get jobs. In a heated debate at the People's Assembly (the Lower House of the Parliament), Moustafa Sherdi of Al- Wafd Party said that Manpower Minister Aisha Abdul Hadi was violating Article No. 9 of Law No. 137/1981, which stipulates that the Government ministries and private sector factories and companies should allocate five per cent of their labour force to the disabled. Citing a World Health Organisation (WHO) report, Sherdi said that there were ten million disabled Egyptians. "These people are denied their right to get a job despite the fact that they can be integrated into the nation's labour force through offering them training and rehabilitation programmes," Sherdi, who represents the coastal Port Said Governorate, told the parliament. "There is an urgent need for setting up a comprehensive programme to reintegrate disabled people into society through training courses, raising awareness and encouraging solidarity among disabled people," he said. Sherdi called for enforcing the law, which has been passed to improve the status of handicapped people, notably in the world of work, and taking legal action against those who refuse to abide by it. Law No 137/1981 mandates jail sentences of up to one month and fines as punishment for any employer found guilty of refusing to appoint a handicapped person. Scores of disabled people have recently protested in Cairo for a shortage of jobs and houses.
