The Senate Standing Committee on Labour and Social Welfare on Thursday sharply criticised the Ministries of Lands and Labour after disability rights advocates from the Coast raised fresh concerns over the continued inaccessibility of public buildings in Mombasa.
The petition was filed by Mr. Zedekiah Adika, Chair of the Coast Civil Society Network for Human Rights, who appeared before the Committee alongside representatives Charity Chahasi (Tunaweza CBO), Jerry Hillary (Siasa Place), Conrad Ettyang (Kituo cha Sheria) and Feisal Oketch (Likoni Ability Network).
Zedekiah, on behalf of the petitioners, told Senators they were seeking urgent intervention to end what they described as decades of government indifference toward Persons with Disabilities (PWDs).
“We filed this petition because her department failed to act. Now she has ignored the Committee too. This conduct continues to dehumanise PWDs in Mombasa,” Zedekiah Adika said.
The session, chaired by Senators Joe Nyutu, Stewart Madzayo, Syengo Mboko and Samson Cherargei, grew tense after the Cabinet Secretary for Lands failed to appear despite being formally summoned. Her absence — without an apology or explanation — angered both senators and petitioners.
Committee members questioned the Ministry’s seriousness, while the petitioners accused the CS of reinforcing the very impunity their petition sought to address.
The advocates listed specific government buildings in Mombasa that remain inaccessible to PWDs, including:Bima Towers, Betting and Control Building, Uhuru na Kazi Building, Deputy County Commissioner’s Offices (Mombasa Island), Mombasa Law Courts and NEMA Offices, Mombasa Island.
They accused government agencies of spending billions on new housing projects while long-standing accessibility failures across these public facilities remain unresolved.
“For whose benefit are these new houses being built if the current public offices cannot be used by everyone?” they asked, adding that portions of the housing budget had even been diverted to unrelated projects such as markets.
A Labour Ministry representative told the Committee that regulations under the Persons with Disabilities Act were still being drafted. But the petitioners dismissed this, saying the Ministry could not use its own failure to publish regulations as an excuse for non-enforcement.
“It is the Ministry that is mandated to table the regulations. You cannot fail to do your job, then use that failure as justification for inaction,” they said.
Senators demanded clear timelines for compliance with accessibility standards and ordered that both the Lands and Labour CSs reappear in person to explain how their ministries intend to resolve the issues raised.
The petitioners thanked Siasa Place, Kituo cha Sheria and Haki Centre for facilitating their appearance and vowed to keep pushing until persons with disabilities in Mombasa receive the dignity and equal access guaranteed under the law.
More to follow…