Basiru

Basiru Bah is a political science graduate and law student based in Freetown, Sierra Leone.

Basiru, who is visually impaired, recently became involved with a citizenship and political participation programme led by Sightsavers and funded by Irish Aid. He has campaigned at a global level, including leading the advocacy for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to be translated into braille.

“My voice matters because as young people, we should be involved and we should contribute. We should contribute to ensure that the world is a better place for all of us. The voice and needs of young people should be fully reflected, so that we have a better world.

“Since I was in primary school, I have been involved in advocacy, to advocate for young people. Even when I went to university, during my first degree, I continued in that path. I have not stopped.

“With other partners and other agencies, I led the advocacy for the Sustainable Development Goals to be transcribed into braille. I engaged with the government, the UN system and partners including Sightsavers. And today, we have the SDGs in braille, which gives access to visually impaired people to read and understand what is in the SDGs and how they’ll be able to benefit from it.”

Barriers to inclusion and participation

“There are challenges we face as young people with disabilities in Sierra Leone. I believe advocating will help to minimise those challenges. By engaging with government institutions, engaging with NGOs and other key stakeholders, we’ll be able to address some of these challenges that persons with disabilities face in Sierra Leone, especially young people.

“Most of the time the laws in Sierra Leone talk about having free education, but that has sometimes been challenged because in some of the universities, [people with disabilities are] not allowed to take exams. Sometimes their results are not published. So that’s a challenge. The law is there, but the implementation is a challenge across governments and tertiary institutions.

“The other issue is access to employment. That’s just a big, big challenge because some people who have graduated have difficulties in accessing jobs across governments and non-government institutions because of discrimination. When you look at the laws, they clearly prohibit all forms of discrimination for persons with disabilities. But we continue to face those challenges. If you go in certain institutions and you are using crutch, they will tell you, ‘Well, the building is not friendly for you to be able to come and work every day.’ If you are using a wheelchair, they’ll tell you, ‘We don’t have lifts, we don’t have ramps.’

“Sometimes we see that they do it to discourage people with disabilities. If someone with a disability has acquired education in one of the universities and he or she applies for a job, as long as he or she meets the requisites or qualifications, then that institution should be able to give the job, but it has not been the case. Sometimes, with no job, they’ll have no option but to retire again to some form of public or street begging. So that is the challenge.

“Another key challenge back again is that the access to public buildings generally is a problem. As persons with disabilities, we go to different government offices to get services. So for example, if you want to access the water company to pay for bill or the electricity building, sometimes it’s challenging. Most of the buildings are not friendly. They don’t have ramps: in some of the buildings, even the lift is not functioning.”  

The citizenship and political participation project

“I was invited to participate in the citizenship and political participation project, and since then have connected closely with Sightsavers. But even before this, [I have benefited from] the support of Sightsavers – when I went to secondary school, Sightsavers supported our school with materials [for students with visual impairments].

“When you talk about citizenship and participation, especially for young people: firstly, we want to look at what is provided for in the law. Section XIII of the Constitution of Sierra Leone of 1991, Act number six, clearly provides for citizen participation generally, and I think we as young people with disability fall under such a provision. In the past we have been engaged in different ways to ensure our participation in the registration process. One way to participate, especially in [democracy], is when you are fully registered. Then you’re able to take part, for example, in an election, to be able to vote for your own choice.

“[As part of the citizenship project] young people, including me, shared our experiences in the past election. Some young people are even involved in sensitising others. I was among other young people with disabilities who engaged together with other young people to use the Tactile Ballot Guide. That is what we use as visually impaired persons to vote in the election. The Tactile Ballot Guide gives us an independent platform to vote independently without the support of any other person. So we’re not only involved just to register our vote, but we also participated in scanning our peers.”

Driving change for young people

“Sierra Leone is currently preparing its 2024 Vienna Report on the SDGs, which should be submitted in July at the High-Level Political Forum in New York. I made a plea that we should consider those vulnerable groups, especially people with hearing impairments. They should fully be involved in all of the activities of government. Specifically, I reference the issue of the SDGs – if they are available [in accessible formats], people with hearing impairments will be able to read and understand about the SDGs, and from that, they’ll be able to contribute to build a better nation and promote the pledge to leave no one behind.

“Another thing that came up strongly during the project is, how will young people take leadership roles and positions? How do we contest? Some of us even made commitments in the next democratisation process or electoral process to go for certain positions. Because if we are not there, we will not be able to make those critical decisions – you can only achieve some of these things when you’re at the table. If you’re at the table, you are closer to the powers that be.

“Currently, we have a young person (below 30) who is a member of parliament. I think that’s a landmark achievement for Sierra Leone. So our next step now is to see that young people with disabilities are represented not only in councils, but also in parliament and other institutions because we should be there.

“Once we are there, we’ll be able to make those decisions. We say equality, we say leave no one behind. We can only achieve the pledge or the commitment to leave no one behind when we as young people with disabilities are in those positions, in councils, in parliament, to make those critical decisions that will benefit not only our lives but the life of every citizen.

“My message to global leaders is that we have less than seven years until 2030. And I think the time is now if we are to achieve the SDGs. Acceleration should go beyond just a commitment; it should reflect an action and those who are left behind should be fully involved when it comes to SDG 10 (reduced inequality within and among countries). It is clear that nations and international partners should work relentlessly to ensure that we accelerate efforts to meet those targets by 2030.

“We cannot achieve the SDGs if the issues of persons with disabilities, or young persons, are not fully [addressed]. How? By mainstreaming the pledge of leaving no one behind. By doing that, the world will be able to make significant progress that we all desire to achieve by September 2030.”