Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am happy to join you all in commemorating the first ever National Day dedicated to persons with mental disabilities. I am encouraged to note that the objective of this day is to raise public awareness on the plight, abilities and needs of persons with mental disabilities. I am also happy to note that this day is intended to help in mobilizing communities to participate actively in supporting persons with disabilities within their environment.

This is, therefore, an important day in marshalling our efforts, as a caring nation, towards assisting members of our society suffering mental disabilities. Allow me, therefore, to take this opportunity to thank the Kenya Society for the Mentally Handicapped and all those stakeholders who have been involved in organizing this event. As the Chief Patron of the Kenya Society for the Mentally Handicapped, I express our special appreciation to the Embassy of Finland for sponsoring this event.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The incidence of persons with mental disability the world over is a more serious health, social and legal challenge than is often supposed. In Kenya, the World Health Organization estimates that 15 per cent of our total population, which is the equivalent of 4.5 million, comprises of persons with disability. Out of this 4.5 million, it is estimated that 2.7 million are persons with intellectual disabilities. Due to poverty, malnutrition, inadequacy of pre-natal care and diseases, the incidence of persons with intellectual disabilities has continued to increase.

What raises even more concern is the stigma, discrimination and abuse to which persons with intellectual disabilities are subjected. More often than not, persons with disability are neglected and exposed to cruel and inhuman treatment. Indeed, many children with intellectual disability are treated as outcasts. Some are kept hidden in homes while others are even thrown out and abandoned. In most cases, this inhuman treatment and stigma is the result of mistaken beliefs and superstitions that associate such disabilities with witchcraft. This makes parents and other members of society unwilling to be associated with persons with mental disabilities.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Mental health is as important as physical health to the overall well-being of individuals, societies and countries. We, therefore, need, as individuals and as a nation, to ensure that the needs of those with various disabilities are met and their rights adequately safeguarded. I am happy to note that the Government is fully aware of this challenge and is indeed rendering services in various fields to persons with mental disabilities. In the education sector, for example, there are over 700 hundred special schools and units that cater for educational needs for persons with mental disability. These special units cater for 23,000 children with mental disabilities in the country.

In addition to this, the Government enacted the Disability Act 2003, with a view to providing the legal framework within which to address issues relating to persons with intellectual disabilities. I note, however, that the Act does not adequately provide for all aspects relating to persons with intellectual disabilities. Indeed, professionals in the field of intellectual disabilities have already submitted a memorandum identifying the shortcomings of the Act and proving the appropriate recommendations. I am happy to note that this memorandum is being deliberated upon by the Government. I urge the Government to speed up deliberations on the memorandum in order to facilitate the enactment of a comprehensive Act as soon as possible.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is important to bear in mind that the Government cannot single-handedly raise the resources required to adequately address the challenges facing persons with intellectual disabilities. I, therefore, appeal to various service providers among them the private sector, civil society as well as multilateral organizations and United Nations agencies to extend their social responsibilities and programs to encompass concerns of persons with mental disability.

In particular, I appeal to all Kenyans in general to join hands in fighting the stigma attached to mental disability. Concerted efforts need to be mounted to fight the myths and superstitions that underlie this stigma. Members of society must also be sensitized on the need to treat persons with intellectual disability with compassion and to report to the relevant authorities those who discriminate or otherwise mistreat such persons. As part of this commitment, I call upon parents and guardians to promote the visibility of this category of people by exposing them and their needs to the wider society. I also call upon parents with children suffering disabilities to form parent support groups, which will serve as a useful forum for providing psychological and social support to those suffering disabilities.

I also challenge the Kenya Society for the Mentally Handicapped, and other stakeholders, to take deliberate efforts to identify those children with mental disabilities who may be hidden by their parents. Once identified, such children should be provided with care and their parents taught on the need to treat them in the same way they treat those without disabilities. I also call upon the relevant department of the Ministry of Gender, Sports, Culture and Social Services to play a more proactive role in sensitizing parents all over the country on their responsibility to treat all children as their own, whether such children are suffering from any disability or not. It is only in this way that we shall remain a caring nation able to reach out to all children and give them care and hope.

In conclusion, I would like to commend all organizations that have extended support to institutions and programmes that render rehabilitation training and other services to persons with mental disabilities. I also register my appreciation to the entertainment teams for they have actually demonstrated their potential and given credence to the saying that "disability is not inability".

Finally, I wish to commend all of you who found time to attend this function. I believe that the voice of this category of persons with disabilities has been heard. Indeed, I am optimistic that this event will change our mindset towards persons with disabilities and prompt deliberate efforts to support them.

Thank you and God bless you.