JAKAD Lecture Calls for Urgent Action on Ghana's Disability Inclusion

The inaugural John Agyekum Kufuor Annual Disability Lecture (JAKAD) took place at the University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA) on October 14, 2025. The event, jointly organised by several prominent institutions, brought together academics, policymakers, disability advocates, and students to reflect on Ghana's Persons with Disability Act, 2006 (Act 715). Political scientist Dr James Kwabena Bomfeh Jnr delivered a stirring call for collective commitment to disability inclusion and justice.

Dr Bomfeh began by highlighting the stark increase in Ghana's population of persons with disabilities (PWDs), rising from 737,743 in 2010 to over 2 million in 2021. He stressed that disability inclusion is not charity, but justice, and warned of the economic costs of exclusion, estimating it could cost developing economies up to 7% of GDP. Despite the landmark Persons with Disability Act, 2006, Dr Bomfeh noted that implementation gaps persist nearly two decades later. He cited examples of wheelchair users still being carried into public buildings, despite retrofitting deadlines having passed. The lecture was a call to action, urging Ghanans to view disability as an integral part of humanity, not a limitation.

The John Agyekum Kufuor Annual Disability Lecture, organised by the John Agyekum Kufuor Foundation, Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, Rights of Youth and Disability International, and UPSA, served as a reminder of the urgent need for collective action towards disability inclusion and justice in Ghana. Dr Bomfeh's impassioned speech underscored the importance of turning legislation into action, for the benefit of over 2 million Ghanaians with disabilities.